Free Falling
by Kaeru Shisho
Summary: Duo searches for the key to happiness and love while free falling through life
1. Chapter 1

**Free Fall **

Summary: Duo searches for the key to happiness and love while free falling through life

Disclaimer: I don't own any part of Gundam Wing or its characters. I make no monetary profit off this story.

Warnings: AU, rated for language, yaoi pairings

A/N: I couldn't have done this without Waterlily's invaluable editing

**Chapter One**

* * *

"Duo, why don't you come for a visit?"

_Why not?_ I could use a change of scenery. Time to move on. Ever since Hilde left the scrap heap to work on the L4 colony, L2 had gotten whole lot drearier, and no one visited me here.

"Too busy to see me here this week, eh?" I joked. Hell, Quat only stopped by the once and I looked like he was afraid to touch anything for catching some disease.

"Frankly, Duo, L2 isn't for everyone. I'm used to the dry heat here. You like my swimming pool, don't you?"

That gigantic lake? Yes, I did. I'd stayed with Quat once during the war, and, man, his estate was one fine place. Since I'd moved to L2, I'd been too busy making ends meet to travel, but now the allure of warmth, luxury, and pure lazing around was too much. I only had the one weak excuse not to go. "I'd have to shut down the yard. I really haven't anyone to run things while I'm gone."

"Sell it. I'll find you something better. I promise."

He'd been trying to get me to do that for the last year, but it was all I had. It was the first real job I'd had that was destructive, totally legal, and I got paid for. It was security against a return to the streets. My prior livelihoods were "lively" and in the "hoods" but not far from hand-to-mouth.

And after my lack-luster, un-gainful youth, there was the war.

_Why not?_

As a fifteen year old, shooting the bad guys was more of a game than it should have been.

My mind was on immediate survival most of the time. Not on the usual teenage interests. Not music. Not sports. And not sex. Not really much at all except staying alive, eating, sleeping, killing the bad guys, and—did I say staying alive? That was the number one thing I thought about.

By the time I'd reached the ripe old age of eighteen, to the best of my knowledge, things hadn't changed much. I did not muse upon my future.

Yeah, when the war ended and I was left just hanging there with little more than a few bucks and the clothes on my back. I hung about on earth at, no kidding, the Sanc palace at Relena's invitation. She couldn't let a Gundam pilot troll the streets.

That lasted two days.

It was a poor fit for me. I was too loud and undomesticated. I was afraid to touch her upholstery. I was spinning in the halls with no place to sit.

Call it free falling with nothing to solid and sure to grab hold of. Lucky for me, I had made an important friend with a really big net.

Quatre asked what I wanted to do and I said the first thing that came to mind. "I could turn wrecked stuff on L2 into junk to sell."

He lent me the dough to do it, including the airfare back to my home colony, and I made it work. I even paid him back to show how appreciative I'd been for the help. I didn't know about interest at the time, or I would have paid him that, too. He didn't have to do it. That's how I knew he was a real friend.

The scrap yard kept me out of trouble and fed enough for me to live in the moment, but did not afford me luxuries like inter-colony travel. No war-time accumulated frequent-flyer miles for me to exploit.

Giving up the business wouldn't be easy.

"That is, if you haven't other plans?"

_None at all._ Or, maybe it was easy to scrap the scrap. "Naw, junk's gotten boring. Okay, give me a month or so--."

"Wonderful! Rashid will pick you up at the shuttle port, then. I can't wait!"

Yep, I guess you could call Quatre Winner my best friend at the time. He and I had ended up on the same side fighting tooth and nail to win the war, he'd kept in touch and helped me get started on L2, but other than that we hadn't a thing in common—that I knew of. He was a truly nice guy with a home, hobbies, family, and business waiting for him to go back to when the dust settled and I, well, was not, obviously.

I showed up in two weeks with a pocketful of money and a few bags. His mansion teemed with servants and sisters too many for me to keep their names straight. I had nothing to do but eat, sleep, and eat more. It was close to heaven, I figured.

"I've never kissed anyone."

He told me that _out of the blue_ my first night in his house. We'd been playing cards and he just blurted that out.

"Nobody my age, I mean."

"So, um, how old are the people you've been kissing?" I asked.

He thought that was hysterical. "Oh, silly Duo! Just old aunties."

"Oh, okay, well, I've never been kissed. I guess we got some living to do, eh?" I hadn't had any experience with sex and found the topic rather dicey, enough to avoid talking about it with anyone. I mean, how many girls did I know? Not too many and only a couple who might let me get that close.

And then he kissed _me_. It was a pretty gutsy thing for him to do.

"There! Now we've done that!" He was jubilant and I was flabbergasted, if not a little turned-on.

"Ah, ha, um, yeah."

I know I was grinning, partly out of embarrassment and partly because his glee was catching. I hadn't thought about kissing another guy before. Not on the lips. It made me wonder. Quatre must have known me better than I did. I wondered how he knew I liked him _that way, _when I didn't know it; I might have just punched his lights out.

"Oh, I could tell you liked me and I just wanted to see how it felt." He patted his chest and smiled. "My space heart knows."

"Oh, so, ah, did that kiss count?" I asked. I did not want to tell him he was crazy; "space heart" my ass!

For an answer, Quatre kissed me again, this time with his hands at my neck and in my hair. His tongue filled my mouth and tickled. After I got the hang of it, kissing was a really fun pastime.

Quatre didn't stop at that. We showered together. That was fun. And he jerked me off. So I did the same for him. I was pretty pliant and amenable to just about any suggestion. I was all sexed up and ready to go.

For the first time in my life, I was having blatant sexual fantasies. Despite my solo efforts, it seemed like I was in a condition of tireless arousal. Quatre's athletic frame and good looks had never been lost on me, but now it was all I could think about. My libido was taking complete control and Quat was beautiful and easy to desire that way.

Over the next few days, he showed me that 69 wasn't just the number between 68 and 70, and shoved his pretty, pink prick up my ass more than once. I got to do him, too. That was mighty sweet. Yeah, with the discovery of sex I was convinced that there was more to life than shooting the bad guys-- like shooting the good guys.

"Duo, what do you want to do, work-wise?"

Now, that was a damn good question. Quatre wasn't afraid to ask questions. He told me that's what he was taught to do in school. I didn't tell him what I learned in school. I got used to being bullied because I was just a lowly orphan. I raised "oppressed" to an art form, and that just ain't nothing to be proud of.

I was kinda proud that the other Gundam pilots had landed decent jobs, giving us all a good rep. We had heard that Wufei joined Lady Une in the Preventers organization, and that Heero had been assigned immediately to Relena's personal guard, an adjunct of the Preventers, but that he'd recently moved to head the larger Preventers security division. Trowa had left an offer from the Preventers hanging and twisting in the air, while he swung and flew through the air with the circus. Nobody had extended me any deals, though.

"There's got to be something that interests you."

I was thinking, "sex therapist," and grinned. He must have guessed I was thinking something along those lines, because he contributed his thoughts before I could share my droll reply.

"Winner Corporation produces the metal used to build the satellite colonies. Currently, there is a massive amount of scrap material from damage caused by the war, and it's wildly cheaper to remanufacture that than to create new from raw materials. I set up Hilde Schbeiker with a job on L4 a month ago and she's been begging me to talk you into joining her there."

"Hilde?"

She was a great kid, er, woman. I could work with her. She even asked for me. "Well, I'll be. That was nice of her." Next thought, "What would I be doing?"

"Great big equipment, tearing things apart, recycling, and sorting--." He smiled. "You could even get in some piloting to gather the salvage."

"Piloting, eh? Man, you had me with 'great big equipment'! Heh, heh… Where do I sign up?"

I must have made my friend happy, because he nearly split his face in two with his smile. He shook my hand, and said, "Your word on a handshake is all I need. We can take care of the details later, but let me show you photos of the living arrangements and tell you about the benefits and pay."

So, I had a job and a place to live and a future of sorts. Quatre Winner was my best friend. I'd have defended him to the death. I was also going to miss him and the inventive sex he treated me to.

"You'll come visit me, won't you?" I insisted on getting some firm dates that I could count on. As the time for my departure crept up, all my insecurities surfaced. Alone, unknown situations, alone, living on my own, no friends…alone, except for Hilde. Couldn't forget her! Hilde'd be there. That was something to hold on to.

"Of course! At least once a month. I'd go out with you to show you around but I have another invitation I've been waiting for."

"You heard from Trowa!"

Trowa Barton was a secretive devil, but I knew if anyone could track him down and make him socialize, it was my dedicated friend, Quatre.

"Yes. He has been helping out Catherine at the circus, where he hid out several times during the war."

"Ah… he's got himself a girlfriend."

Quatre laughed. "No! He says they are just friends; in fact, she thinks he could be her lost brother, Triton Bloom."

"No shit!"

"That's right. So, he's staying a few more weeks then he's reporting for an interview at Preventers. I think I can offer him something more suitable, though. We'll, see. He's invited me to try traveling with the circus a few days. It will be a real vacation for me." He was quick to add, "Not that having you here like this has been work or anything!"

He kissed me as reassurance, and we both laughed. Still, I was the tiniest bit jealous. I hadn't thought of Quatre as my boyfriend. God, he wasn't my _anything_! Did guys even have boyfriends? I didn't know!

I'd known about old men raping boys, pedophiles, but not same-sex lovers. And I was pretty sure brothers didn't do that stuff to each other. _So what did that make us?_

I didn't know, but I knew I envied Trowa and didn't look forward to sharing Quatre with him. I didn't know if the two of them would have what Quat and I had had and I tried not to picture them getting it on.

I was not in love—of that I was pretty sure. Quatre certainly wasn't in love with me. We were more… "in like." So, I had no claim to his heart. That didn't mean I wanted to give him up or go halves, but I couldn't stop _him_ from wanting to.

"Do you like Trowa?" I asked this knowing he knew what I meant.

"I-I'll find out. I think… a little."

That meant it depended upon whether or not Trowa liked him.

"He's a good guy."

That meant that I thought it was okay if they fell "in like" with each other. And, yeah, I conceded some kind of defeat.

"I agree. I'm glad you think so, Duo. Thank you for telling me."

We celebrated our understanding with a lot of sex. That meant we would always be friends. That we still liked each other. That we had a special bond.

Later that week found me on L4, in my company-issue apartment next door to Hilde, and within walking distance to the scrap yard where we both worked.

I already missed Quatre, but I owed him every good thing I had going for me. I hung up a calendar and marked the day he'd next visit. I could endure anything that long. No problem.

I didn't expect my life would change as dramatically as it did after that.

(o)

The work exercised my brawn more than my mind, but then that left me with plenty brain power for thinking about other things. Quatre hadn't been kidding. I learned to operate some fucking humongous machinery. We were moving around and taking apart parts of colony scaffolding, superstructure, and sub-skin the size of the neighborhoods I once lived in on L2.

I often wondered if I was carving up parts of Wufei's war-savaged L5 for re-forming into the new L5.

Hilde liked the crane and had already trained on it so I trained only enough to back her up. For some reason everyone thought the fifteen-story cutting tool best suited me. It was like Deathscythe all over again, without the parts I was slicing attacking me in return. It was also tricky making certain the cut parts fell where I wanted them and not on someone's head. I got so I could laser-cut my name in each piece to leave my personal mark.

I impressed the hell outta everybody.

Hilde asked me out first. We had lunch most days together, so when she said, "Let's get dinner," I took that for a date. She dressed up and I dressed up as best as I could, which wasn't good enough for her, but had to do 'cause that's all I had. I was clean.

We ate at a nice place, but it wasn't me. I was stopped at the door and handed a tie to wear -- dress code. No wine served to minors-- it's the law. At that point I decided that L4 was going to take some getting used to for me. I'd have to make a few adjustments.

Which was okay. If anything, I was flexible and versatile.

On L2 there were no age restrictions for anything. Most kids hadn't the money to buy non-essentials, and with all the vice on display that just wasn't at all attractive. I got away with most everything during the war wherever I was, except in the schools. Hanging out at the boarding schools, while waiting for mission assignments during the war, meant close supervision and rules, which I never really minded. I so rarely had rules to follow it made for a nice change.

And it never lasted long. A few months at most and then back to the fighting.

I missed hanging out with Quatre most of all. I didn't have to explain a thing about my past with him. I didn't have to pussyfoot around my _needs_ either.

Hilde was okay, since she knew I'd been a Gundam pilot, but she didn't get other things about me. Like sex. If I wanted it, Quat wanted it, and we did it. It was pretty simple. So, I checked off the days until he came and missed Quatre immensely.

And then he came a day early, with Trowa.

Gravity check! **Gravity check!**

For a minute there, I was free falling in space. I wasn't so blind that I couldn't see Trowa liked Quatre and Quatre liked Trowa. Liked as in a BIG way. Christ, they were in love!

Trowa was going to work in security for Quatre and stay with him, in his big house where I'd visited. And probably play in Quat's big bed, where he and I'd fooled around. I was happy for them both, really. It was just-- I could tell my sex-marathons-with-Quatre days were over.

I was pleased they visited me, though.

After Trowa and Quatre left, Hilde and I started going out regularly. This was more of a friendship thing. We worked in the same yard, but rarely ran into one another. We lived next door to one another, but kept different hours. She bought a TV and then we started hanging out more together. The rest of the crew started to notice.

"Hey, Duo! I think your girlfriend's ready to go. Call it a day."

"Who? Oh, hi, Hilde, be right with ya."

And that is how I got a girlfriend. Things started to change a little at a time. Patterns formed. Work divided sharply from the rest of the day. We timed out together and picked up take-out together and watched movies together. We lived separately, but shared most of our free time. And in that free time, she taught me how to cook a few things and I taught her how to kiss, for starters.

We both liked to kiss and cuddle. Sex didn't have to be a competitive contact sport. It could be more of win-win situation. At first when I closed my eyes I saw Quatre there, but after awhile that just faded and I saw dark hair and her greyer blue eyes.

It took some time to get her to want to touch my chest. Touching is real nice and feels good, whether a guy or girl is doing it. Her fingernails were cut short and her hands nearly as soft as Quatre's.

After awhile I stopped comparing the two.

But it took a while, because all my experience had been with him and after the kissing part the differences became more noticeable. For one thing, when she let me touch her breasts, the relationship turned sexual and I discovered that she didn't like to have her nipples rolled. Quatre had. I was at a loss for what to do with them so I concentrated on massaging. She seemed happy with that, and so we progressed an inch at a time.

Showering together failed. Her hair was smartly cut short. My hair was all over the place. She couldn't deal with it out of a braid. Frankly, I didn't blame her either. After all, that's why I wore it tied back all the time.

So, messing around in the water wasn't going to spice up our sex life. The next trial was also peppered with failure. She did not get the hang of cock sucking. She tended to treat my dick like a teat and milk me. I played instructor and she played the obstinate pupil. In the end, she figured I might as well "just stick it in already."

Okay. That part was easier than with Quatre, because with girls, and enough foreplay, the entry hole was somewhat self-lubricating, and more accessible. I was a little rusty, but it's mostly instinctual. It felt really good. We added a few variations and messed around about once a week.

So, I figured I liked sex whether it was with a guy or a girl, and since that gave me a pretty big playing field I figured it had to be a huge bonus. I liked Hilde almost as much as I'd liked Quatre. I didn't mention my using her to get over my infatuation with Quat—I had that much sense—but not much more. It probably would have been smart to have told her I had once had something going on with him, had I been a bit more experienced about life and feelings and people.

But—

I was contented and kind of a jerk. And I liked the work on L4.

Life was pretty solid. I lived and worked in one place for weeks on end for the first time in my life. I wasn't sure I was ready to give up my drifter way of life, but it was comfortable to have a roof over my head, to know when and where my next meal was coming from, and to be doing it on my own, mostly. I might have settled into this new L4 lifestyle permanently, except for a bit of karma.

Funny thing about karma. It could look bad at the onset and yet be a gift. Such was the job request that came one day. They needed someone who could pilot and use robotic machinery. I fit the ticket exactly. It was, in fact, as if the job request had been written for me precisely. I didn't miss the chance to fly again, so I nabbed it up without too much deep analysis as to why I was so lucky.

(o)

My first piloting job was to L5 to salvage gigantic trusses that spanned miles, cut them to size, and then transport them back for re-processing. There was enough work on L5 for me to stay two weeks at a time, before dragging my loaded transport back to L4. I needed a place to time-share on L5, and, surprise, surprise, Quatre wrote me about that the next day.

"Contact this number. Looking for roommate. Knows you.—QRW"

_Knows me? _Who on L5 knew me, I wondered? There was only one way to find out, so I called the number.

"Record your message at the sound of the beep."

Yep, that was the phone message I got. A mechanical voice, not one the guy or girl created. I left a fine, info-filled message that would tell the person on the other end of the line a little bit about me. The personal touch.

"Hey! I'm leaving a message 'cause you're not there. I, ah, need a place to hang my hat half the month. I gotta job so I can pay rent and expenses and shit. So, ah, if you're still interested in renting out a room, call me."

I received a message later that day, which was direct, to the point, and a whole lot less wordy than mine had been. It didn't give away much, but at least it was human and male: "Come by after 8," and then there was the address. There was interference and other voices in the background, making the voice hard to identify.

I found the lackluster building and rang at the security door at eight-oh-one. Mystery man buzzed me up.

I had, in fact, visualized Wufei opening the door. It was L5 and I always thought he'd end up back on the colony now under construction. He might have had an excuse to have part time work in the area, and he knew me. I couldn't imagine him wanting me to share his space, though. He and I weren't close team mates during the war. You might go as far as saying we weren't even friendly.

It was not Chang Wufei.

"Heero!"

No way in hell had I been expecting "never smile if you can frown" Heero Yuy to be looking for a roommate on L5. I didn't see a gun in his hand, but that didn't mean it wasn't there! _Be nice and run, Duo my boy._

"Wrong place! Sorry, man."

The floor fell away, and beneath my feet was a fucking, gaping abyss. I was free falling to my death one moment, and I would have made it home free, had he not clamped down on my shoulder and dragged me inside his place.

"Idiot. Get in here."

"Eep!"

He had a gun. In his shoulder holster. Visible over his unbuttoned shirt.

"Coffee, right?"

He offered me a drink, my favorite, and turned his back on me to go get it. His back! I could have shot him dead, maybe.

"Yeah, thanks. Ah, nice place."

And it was as nice a place as _mine_. I don't lie, outright.

"It's substandard, but par for the area."

"Right."

I would not argue with an armed Heero Yuy. _Why, Quatre, why? I thought we were friends._

"Winner contacted Preventers headquarters for an available room, and Commander Une patched him through to me."

"Oh." That answered my unspoken question. "What are you--?"

"Security. Overseeing the reconstruction. Six months on, six off. Chang and I trade off."

"That's nice."

"I needed a change of duty."

"Oh."

Heero gave me a curt nod. "The coffee should be done."

My conversation skills were non-existent, matching his nicely. I was already fitting in!

I watched as he stalked to the kitchen and returned, two mugs in hand. I reached for the yellow one with the balloons and let him keep the black one. It seemed more polite. He frowned. No, his frown deepened.

"Wrong one? Sorry, I thought you'd like the black."

His face softened and I saw the tiniest up-curve in the corner of his mouth.

"I thought the same. It doesn't matter. The drink's the same. Sit."

My knees buckled on command and I sat, hard on the couch. He handed me the black mug and sat on the chair opposite. We both took turns sipping our coffees and looking furtively at one another over the brim.

"You look good." It would have been grammatically correct to say "well" but I think I meant what I said.

Heero had always been a good-looking hunk of male animal. Girls were attracted to him all the time. It was that "I have better things to do" air he had about him that they liked.

At the moment, I was thinking that he really, really looked _stunning_- the euphemism I'd come up with for what I was really thinking.

"Thanks, so do you. How long are you here for?"

_I guess I was staying?_ "Two weeks, is my guess, then back to L4 for two, then back here for two then back…for… two… and so on."

He had gotten the gist right off. No need to ramble on and on, but I did just the same.

"L4. I thought you would have gone back to L2."

"Not willingly! Heh, heh…" I gulped more coffee, which was now lukewarm. "Quatre found me a job on L4 at a Winner company scrap yard kinda place. Got lots of useless colony substructure floating around? Then I'm your man."

I stopped my running monologue with a flood of rapidly chilling coffee.

"You always were a scrapper."

A scrapper was both what we scrap-collector-recycler-garbage guys call ourselves, and a determined fighter, and, yes, I was a scrapper, but imagining that Heero made a joke… I choked, spitting coffee all over my shirt. My only shirt to date that was clean and not in a bag in a hotel room. Not any more.

"Jesus Christ, Yuy! Next time you're gonna joke, warn me."

He seemed pleased to be making me look like a fool.

"Did you bring anything with you?"

_Does it look like it, asshole?_ I wiped off my chin with the end of my braid. "Just me. Stuff's back at the hotel. I didn't know… I wasn't sure…"

"Want a tour?"

"Yeah."

_But that wasn't what I was having a problem wrapping my head around_. Heero Yuy was offering to share his place part-time with me?

I followed him to the kitchen, turned around, hopped back into the front room, opened a door to have a look-see into a bathroom.

"Here's the bedroom."

And just like that, he gave me another BIG problem to consider.

"Just the one?" I had to ask.

Heero leafed through a neat stack of t-shirts, selected one, and tossed it in my direction. I caught it mid air, wondering if he expected me to strip immediately. I met his searching gaze. He looked stricken.

"Winner indicated that you wouldn't mind."

_Mind what? Sharing a room? A bed? Is there really only one bed? Quatre, you fucking prick! _

"Winner? Oh." _Well, damn Quatre's pretty little ass._ _Playing loose and fancy-free with my reputation, was he? _

_But maybe he thought we'd be trading weeks? Yes, that was it!_

_I'd think about what we were doing when we were both sharing the place, the room, the bed… like tonight… I'd deal with that later._ "No, that's okay."

Relief washed Yuy's face like a spray from the fancy showerhead I noticed his bathroom sported.

_Okay—it was later_. The problem of where I'd be sleeping until Heero left still remained. _Couch? _I'd slept on worse and it would save on expenses, which, I'd finally decided, had to be at the foundation of all this.

"I can take you to your hotel to get your things."

_Better than waiting an hour for a taxi. _

"Dinner, too? My treat," I added out of habit, because Hilde had always liked it when I paid.

"Fine."

Heero Yuy drove a hot, little, shiny, black ASTRA 780 two-seater sports car that was maybe two months off the dealer's lot. I ran a hand over the real leather interior, caressed the real wood dashboard, and gasped. I sank into the low seat, rubbed my butt on the buttery leather, and groaned. I threw my arms over the back of the head rest, stretched out, and moaned. I didn't even try to conceal how I felt.

"Sexy." I may have said that too loudly, but it was true. That car was sex on wheels.

"Absolutely."

I opened my eyes and Heero was staring directly at me, so I clarified what I'd said.

"I meant this car is really cool."

"I meant you."

"Ah—Oh."

His face was turned away or he would have noticed how I'd gone into shock and opened the window for fresh air or something. Instead, he was occupied with starting the car. He fiddled with gages and gadgets, adjusted air conditioning and the speakers for music, and opened a window in the roof.

Me? I was sitting there in my coffee-splotched shirt cradling his clean white t-shirt like a baby, feeling oh-so not cool and not sexy. He jammed it into reverse, pealed out of his parking space, whipped us around, squealed the tires as he ripped out of the underground parking garage, and tore off down the empty street like a bat out of hell.

With the volume revved up, the music soared, the engine roared.

"Gotta one way ticket to hell and back, gotta one way ticket to he-ell… and back!" The Darkness wailed their banshee cries. "Gotta one way ticket to hell and back, gotta one way ticket to he-ell… and back!"

I was falling, falling, free falling. I was sure Quatre was the devil and I'd sold my soul to him to get where I was. And I didn't really care. _Sorry, Quat for thinking ill of you._

Heero's voice brought me up fast by my shorts.

"Which one?"

I opened my eyes and stared out at the hotel district. "That one."

There were only two hotels in this precinct. The other was more first class. I hadn't even presumed to choose it, although Quatre probably wouldn't have given it a second thought if I had.

Heero waited in the car, engine rumbling in discontent. It wanted to go, go, go.

I dashed in, grabbed my bags, changed my coffee-splattered shirt for a once-worn, no-spots shirt, and checked out. I nearly pushed out the door when I realized that I was still carrying around Heero's t-shirt like a comfort blanket. Then I wondered if Heero would be pissed if I didn't wear his t-shirt, so standing there in the lobby, I ripped off the button-down, yanked on Heero's white tee and then jammed my arms back into the shirt. Flapping cuffs irritated me, so I rolled the sleeves to the elbow and left it unbuttoned.

_There. See? I'm wearing your damned shirt. __**And**__ mine. _

Back at the car, Heero had on a navy blue blazer. _Where had that come from?_ Memories of dates long past, me wearing restaurant-issued ties and coats, rushed by like a depressing flipbook. _Ah, shit! _

"Do I need a sports coat to get in?"

Heero winced. I hated the whine edging into my voice, too. He removed his coat and flung it backwards.

"No."

"Thanks. You didn't have to dress down for me."

"No trouble."

I received a smug smile for all my trouble. I wedged my bag behind the seat, melted into my fits-me-like-a-glove bucket seat, and then we rocketed off into the wild blue beyond.

"You look good." He said this and I figured he'd noticed how I'd incorporated his t-shirt into my ensemble.

"Thanks."

"Can you wait an hour to eat?"

"Hour? Hell, yeah. I can wait a day, why?"

"Best steak house is a ways off."

A hundred miles. He left just enough time for the chef to sear both sides of my very rare steak. Plate delivered front and center one hour to the minute.

"Damn, this is good." It was, so I told him so.

He smiled. "Need a car like that to make it worth it."

"Oh, it's worth it. It's all worth every fucking penny."

Heero laughed. I made him laugh. I laughed too. I drew a long drink of water. I was sticking to water for my liquid of choice. I couldn't mess up too badly with just water spills. But then I forgot about my big mouth.

"Yeah, young, rich and fabulous."

"You think I'm fabulous?" He smiled when he asked me that.

_Now, how was I to answer? _

"Well, your car sure is!"

He laughed louder. Man, too bad he was going to have to go soon. Six months on, six off. I could get to like living with this Heero Yuy.

"You can drive it home, if you want."

"If I _**want**_? IF?! Yeah, I guess I might want to get behind the wheel of your sweet ride. Yeah, thanks. That means a lot, ya know? You trusting me that much."

"You always were the best pilot. Quick reflexes. Smart choices."

_Really? Me? _I was _really_ going to miss not having this Heero around.

"Actually, Trowa was. He had the best hit-record too. Quatre kept records like that, you know? Ah, so… If I drive real good, do I get to keep the keys?"

He didn't answer that. Big mistake. So, I backpedaled into a hole.

"I mean, since you're going and leaving the car behind, right? I just thought maybe I could borrow it. Ah… just until I get me something. I don't have a car here. Not yet. I don't have one back on L4 either, but that's another story. I live walking distance to work and everything I need, and so far I haven't needed much, which is good because I haven't saved enough to buy a car. Then there's insurance—"

"Are you finished?"

_With dinner, with what I was saying, with digging the deepest hole I could in order to fall in and disappear from sight forever? _

"Um--?"

"With your meal."

"Yes."

He caught the waiter by the arm, and said, "Check, please, and a couple doggie-bags."

Who'da thought Heero saved a dime eating leftovers?

"I don't know if I'll get much of a lunch break at work tomorrow. This saves time."

"Yeah."

I watched him divvy up the remainders of our dinners into two cartons, bag them, and then shove some bills onto the table and stand. I saw the car keys sailing above the table in time to catch them carefully so as not to knock over a candle or the vase of flowers.

_Wait, I was going to pay! _"This was gonna be my treat, 'Ro."

"Next time. Let's just go."

"Okay, if there's time while you're still here it'll be my turn."

It was dark out. I found the seat belt and the starter on the first try, and that was about it. Heero had to help me locate the car lights and the myriad of adjustments and bells and whistles to set before we could go. After that, I had it all under control. I could backtrack out the way we came in, and when I hit the highway, I let her rip.

He had his seat adjusted back and his eyes were closed. I couldn't read the guy at all. He didn't look worn out. He never did. _Was he happy?_ Full, maybe. _Frustrated?_ Yeah, I'd probably said something that ticked him off and he was being kind. I shoulda just let resting Yuys lie, but I couldn't shut up.

"Heero? You okay?"

"Long day, that's all."

"Sorry you had to tack on me to the end of it."

"Not the problem."

"Thanks, 'Ro."

I wanted to brush the bangs back and rub his temples, but I didn't dare enter his private space, until invited, if ever.

"My pleasure." He sighed. "Duo, I'm not leaving L5 for at least five months. I thought I made that clear."

He had said that. Six months on, and then trade with Chang back at the Sanc headquarters. I was the one on the 2-week plan.

"Yep."

"So, there will be plenty of opportunities to go out."

_And then what? Share a bed?_ I wondered for the nth timewhat Quatre had told him about me? _What was Heero expecting? Was Quatre sharing me out to first Hilde and now Heero? _

_Was I Winner's rent boy or something? _

_Oh, Hilde, you need company? Duo's good for a roll and I've got him all broken in! Heero? Are you lonely? Duo won't take up much room. He's cheap, easy to impress, and has a willing, hot ass._

"Duo, you all right?"

"Ah, okay, I guess."

"I was saying that I have a squad car for use at the agency. You can drop me off there on your way to work. Call me when you get off."

"Really? Oh, okay."

"No need for you to get a car that way."

Here I was worrying about sharing a bed with him, and he was solving my transportation problems. Had he not figured out the real dilemma? We weren't children. Sharing a bed at our age meant something more than just sleeping together.

_Or was that just me? Was I reading too much into this? _

Maybe Heero just wanted to save on heating bills.

Possibly.

I had an active imagination. Very active. My imagination just warped into hyper drive. "Get off," was all I wanted to do, and with Heero Yuy. My brain actually could detach itself from my dick, with a certain amount of trouble, but not at the moment.

**A/N: _One Way Ticket_ by The Darkness**

End, Chapter One.

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

**Free Fall **

Summary: Duo searches for the key to happiness and love while free falling through life

Disclaimer: I don't own any part of Gundam Wing or its characters. I make no monetary profit off this story.

Warnings: AU, rated for language, yaoi pairings

**Chapter Two**

* * *

"Duo, you are one strange guy."

"Ah, I'll take that as a compliment, coming from the ice cube holding onto his place in the tray against all odds."

I winked at 'Ro's souring expression. "Trowa's line," I explained. "He'd been looking at a photo shot of all of us at that last shindig of Relena's, remember that?"

Heero winced. "Yes." _Who could forget?_

"Quat and I were all smiles-- me for no fucking good reason, I might add—and the rest of you could frost over a Gundam engine in full throttle."

"I'm not cold. I never was."

"Maybe not, but I'm just saying, that's how you looked, how you all seemed in the picture. You and I haven't spent much time together since then, you know."

"I thought you'd join Preventers, too."

"I wasn't invited."

His eyebrows shot up. "Impossible."

"_Is_ possible. It's true. No one ever asked me-- really."

There. I said it to him, finally. I was the one no one wanted. Duo 'Reject' Maxwell.

_Now, Heero, it's your turn to get out of this timeshare thing while you can._

I pressed the automatic garage door opener, wheeled the sports car into its allotted space, and turned off the engine. An overhanging, bare light bulb was all the illumination we had.

I looked over to see that Heero was watching me like a sniper his mark. "What?"

He faced me partway then moved closer, resting one arm on the back of his seat and the other across the steering wheel.

"I would really like to kiss you, Duo, but I feel that I must warn you first."

_Kiss me?_ Kiss. Me. K. I. S. S.

That caught me so totally off guard I'm sure my mouth was hanging open before I ventured a cautionary, "Warn me about what?"

"About me," he lowered his voice to a husky rumble and inched closer. "Once I start, I might not be able to stop."

_What an inane come-on!_ I was insulted. _What was with the cryptic conversation? What was with the weird seductive tone?_

"Start what? You think I'm gonna buy a line like that? What makes you think I want to have you within an inch of my person, huh? I already got a ... ah..."

I was unable to articulate 'girlfriend,' because I didn't think Hilde was actually that to me. I didn't know, because it didn't feel like it. We had no promises either.

"Because you don't want me to melt before we've had a chance."

"Melt?"

"Like ice."

"Oh, Lord, are you back with that ice cube metaphor?"

"Are you still fighting for the upper hand?" he snapped back.

Heero was so close that I could feel his body's warmth multiplied by my own and that of the artificially set temperature of the car. I was excited, sated, jet-lagged, and confused. I was sure he was playing me for easy or a fool, and it made me a mite testy, which was my excuse for saying what I did next.

"Yes, I mean... no. I'm always on top."

"That's all I wanted to know." He leaned the final few inches into me, licked the tip of my nose, and smiled. Before I could yip and wag my tail, he backed off to grab the two doggy-bags of leftovers.

"I'm flexible," he added and opened his side door.

The blood rushed to my face. _What had he said?_

"What did you just say?"

No reply; I just heard his chuckle.

"And that wasn't what I meant, whatever you're thinking. Hey, come back here! I just wanna clarify what was going on just now!"

But Heero was already out of the car, amused, apparently, at my confusion, and heading for the apartment. He had no right to say that stuff, not if he hadn't meant it, which he couldn't have. He didn't know me, unless… Kill the Quat!

I had to run to catch up, then turn around and go back to retrieve my stuff from the car, then scurry some more. Along the way, I sloughed off most of my 'mad' and let 'confusion' just make itself at home in my head.

Then weariness slammed into me straight on.

"Just leave the keys in the dish on the counter," Heero said the minute I walked into 'our' apartment.

"'Kay."

"I suppose you should shower first?"

I looked as dumb as I was.

"So your hair dries?" he added, "That is, if you're washing it. It's long. I imagine it takes a while to dry."

"Oh, yeah. Thanks." So, he had a hair fetish, perhaps?

"Towels in the cabinet."

"Yeah."

I hurried to unpack my pack, located the few items of interest, and ducked into the bathroom, relieved to be alone. I don't know what I would have done had he suggested, or worse, _insisted_ that we share the shower.

Probably have done it. I was unable to think for myself at the time. And Heero looked hotter'n hell. And, Jesus, I wanted a chance at his sweet ass.

I was ten minutes into my shower, when the bathroom door opened. I could make out Heero's form through the foggy glass.

_What the fuck?_

Thank God for steam, because the dude just relieved himself at the toilet without a care in the world for privacy, his or mine, and not more than two feet away from me. There wasn't much to see but it was the idea. Okay, we'd been in prisons and tight spots where privacy wasn't possible, but this was not any of those conditions.

I was sporting an erection in seconds. He didn't say a word. He did his thing and left, closing the door behind him like I didn't exist. I finished washing my hair and while I let the spray rinse out the shampoo I jerked off.

I kept thinking that, shitola, this was going to be tough, awkward, and crazy hot.

I dressed in a pair of running shorts, brushed my teeth, and left the door open, fan on, to air out the bath, and paused to see if there was anything I'd forgotten to do. Ah, yes, I could hear Hilde hollering at me to clean out the wad of hair I always left in the trap. I removed the clump, tossed it in the trash, and carried my brush along. I could do my hair anywhere.

"Done?"

"Yeah, I left you some hot water, too."

With Hilde, I learned to take a fast shower and leave the place clean. I had promise, as she put it, "a potentially, moldable, model boyfriend." I removed the towel from my face and hair and there was Heero in all his naked glory_. _

_OhmyGodheis soooo tonedandhot!_

"Thanks."

Okay. Heero Yuy cut, abs-delicious, and standing a foot away with those smoldering eyes melting through my reserves looked better than I imagined. Like Quatre, like me, Heero Yuy had grown up. I'd given him a once over, for sure, but a lickety-split one and now my eyes were on his. Safer that way. He was spectacular and I felt infinitely inferior. I had just had my shower and still I felt all pale and grubby in the golden glow of his skin. Who wouldn't?

Then he stepped into the bathroom and closed the door, halfway, but enough to shut off the view.

Free Falling. Wow. Talk about weightless! I was floating.

It was so totally unreal a situation I had to chalk it up to drugs. My food musta've been drugged. That was all there was to it. One sizzling hot car, one steamy hot Heero.

And he wasn't the least bit body shy, apparently.

And he had said "kiss."

One hot-bed-of-coals scorching hot bed coming up.

I cast about for what to do next; my hair, of course, but what after that? I was stuffed, so eating was out. Read? Sleep? Crapalousa, how was I gonna sleep in the same bed as Heero the Hunk? How?

I just managed to tie off the end of my braid by the time Heero emerged from the bathroom. He was wearing boxers and towel drying his hair. When he spotted me in the living room, he came to join me.

"You cut your hair."

"So did you," I told him.

He ran his fingers through the unruly dark hair, which wasn't more than an inch shorter than I'd remembered. "Not as much as you did. What made you do it?"

"It got caught in a piece of machinery. Only the last couple inches or so."

"It's hardly noticeable," he said.

"But you noticed."

He nodded, followed by a long, pregnant pause. Real uncomfortable at first and more as it hung there.

"Duo, I ah… How do you want to work this?"

"You don't know already? You seem to be expecting things to just fall into some master plan, Heero. From the moment I arrived, too! I was wondering what Quatre said to you about me. Really wondering."

He fell into a chair. I did a dainty balancing act on the arm of the couch. And waited.

"He called to say you needed a place to live when you were working in the area. This condo building is Winner Corporation property, which is how he knew where to reach me."

"Uh, huh. I thought before you said he called via Commander Une." I don't miss a thing, when I'm listening.

"He tried both, actually. Une's office eventually patched the call through, after verifying the caller."

"What else? He tell you I live alone? 'Cause I do. I don't share."

"He said you had an apartment. And that you were gay."

"Gay? He told you that?! Well, I'm not. I'm not anything or maybe both or whatever. Fuck! That was pretty personal information to be giving out."

Now I suspected Quatre told him more. I let my imagination torture Quatre within an inch of his life and hoped his precious, little "space heart" felt it-- the meddler. Mean old me.

"I asked. It was important to me to know. I'm gay."

My wide eyes expressed more than I wanted them to. I may have messed around with Quatre and dug on Heero's body, but gay? Heero was gay?

"I told you how I wanted to kiss you. I thought—"

That's right. He did say he wanted to kiss me, but _gay?_ Okay. I let that soak in a moment. Quatre should have told me all this.

He sighed. "Winner didn't tell you."

"No, Heero. Quat didn't tell me squat. I had no idea who was behind door number one until you opened it. I imagined Wufei's snarling mug for a second, seeing it was L5 and... Oh, well, I guess Quatre did tell me I knew the person renting me the room, but that was it."

"Ah." Heero looked as unhappy as I did, I expect. "He should have."

I felt better knowing Heero and I were on the same wavelength about Quatre.

"Quatre should have told me I'd be renting from Heero Yuy with a single room and, yeah, he should have clued me in so I wouldn't be… whatever. That asshole has always liked to fuck with my head with crap outta the blue."

"You're friends then?"

"Well, I don't know about _now_," I flicked him a lopsided grin to show I harbored a few hard feelings but they didn't run that deep, "But, yeah. We were especially close for a while, until he got up the nerve to seduce Trowa."

"But you're not gay?"

"I'm not denying that I'm into guys. I'm just saying I'm not just that and he had no right to tell you about me and not tell me about you. That's sorta it."

"I agree." Heero gave me a tiny smile. "So he and Trowa? Did it work?"

"Money, charm, sunny personality—Trowa didn't have a chance."

We both laughed a little too hard, but it relieved some of the tension.

"So you and Winner were--? And then … Barton?"

I was glad he didn't try and fill in the blanks with words whose meanings I wasn't ready to define. He also granted me some dignity by leaving out words like "dumped" and "traded-up".

"Well, more like he got me to get my head together, gave me a great job, and found me a place to live, and showed me a good time… in the course of moving on to circus-boy."

For some reason I left Hilde out of it. Maybe I was a nice guy, no kiss and tell. And maybe I was not ready to share everything. Definitely not ready to tell him about my other life on L4. Definitely. Hilde and that relationship was like in another universe that had no part in this one. I was sure both Hilde and Heero would understand, pretty sure.

"And no…roommate?"

"Nope."

At which point I decided I should mention Hilde some. I wasn't a monk or a recluse.

"He got Hilde a job working on L4 too. Remember her?"

"Yes."

"So we're friends and all, but I got my own place and, of course Quat had servants all over the place, um, and I was his guest when he and I, er... Temporary visit. So, ah, I don't share."

He started running his fingers through that mop of his. No wonder it was a mess. "Well, that's good."

_It is?_ "I guess. So?"

"So, do you mind sharing with me?" he asked.

_Shoot me. _"Not if you don't mind sharing with me." I felt bold now that he seemed unsure for the first time.

He stood and held out his hand. I didn't need help getting off the couch, but the hand meant something more, and we both knew it; at least, I knew it and felt he knew it. Taking it meant I was allowing for sex between us; leave it, and platonic it was.

Sex with Heero the Hunk or drive myself fucking insane thinking about it every second of our on again off again time together?

An eye blink later, I grabbed that incredibly strong hand firmly and let him yank me to my feet, which brought me up to within six inches of his face-- four, but I was two inches taller than him. Those two inches felt real good, and I thanked the Gods that put my mom and dad together that one of them passed me some height genes.

Heero had other terrific genes; he didn't need to be tall, too.

"You grew," he noted.

"Yeah."

He drew a single finger down my chest from my collarbone to just above my navel. "Chest hair."

"Yeah, you don't think a guy who could grow a head of hair this thick and long couldn't grow it everyplace else on his body. Heh, heh… by the time I'm 50 I'll probably have it growing everywhere and look like a monkey."

"No, I don't think so. It's new. Nice." Heero rubbed his hard six-pack with the palm of his hand. He was hairless like a man in an underwear ad, and fabulously muscled. I wasn't bad, but he was, well, perfect.

"You look great, man. Work out much?"

He smiled and nodded. "I'll introduce you to my gym, if you'd like."

"Okay, yeah." _Although, I'd rather keep my workouts one-on-one with you._

We kept the jaunt to the bedroom simple and quick. He clicked off the light, washing us in the soft glow of the distant bathroom nightlight, and cocked his head to the side. "Shall we?"

I could have answered that a million ways, well two, er, I stuck with the one. "Okay."

"So you obviously live alone, right?" I asked.

He climbed over the mattress to the far side against the wall. "Other than you? Yes. There was someone else. It didn't work out."

_Someone else! Heero Yuy had been sharing a bed with someone else?_

"Who?" I blurted out with the sensitivity of a meat axe. I had one knee on the bed, questioning my next move.

"Another agent. It didn't last because he tried to kill me. It turned out that he was a White Fang survivor."

_Oh, shit._ "Geez, you'd think Une would do psyche tests on those nutcases before hiring them."

"Some unbalanced ones get through, because they don't know what they have concealed deep inside; she accepted me, for instance." He turned to show me his back. "The scars he gave me are still sensitive."

I hadn't noticed them before hidden in the glory of his beauty. "Stuff can get buried pretty deep, for sure, yeah."

I sank onto the mattress and pulled the covers over us. We lay like that stiff, arms on top by our sides. Yep, we lay side by side for a while, and then he turned and faced the wall.

Unaccustomed to denying myself pleasure, I snuggled closer to the source of all possible pleasures. If he'd shared a bed with another man, then he was accustomed to movement and noise and probably wouldn't do something rash if I moved. Of course, he didn't tell me what happened between them or how it all that ended for his, er, companion.

I couldn't get past that a fellow agent had tried to kill him, Heero Yuy.

_Fuck__._ _Did I even want to know the details?_

He didn't move away, so I became more adventurous. My hand slid beneath the thin cotton sheet, and his head rolled to the side facing me as he rolled onto his back. I locked my eyes on his. Trance-like it seemed. I met with no resistance so I touched him. There was a minute hitch in his breathing, but that was all. I continued gliding my fingers lightly across his stomach, making broad circles, and diving deeper with each motion. His eyes remained open, soft, and relaxed. I detected a deepening of his breathing through the long contractions in his stomach. My breathing matched his, keeping pace.

I drifted off to some dreamy place I rarely visited and had never lingered, someplace peaceful my mind had conjured up for just this moment. My hand refused further directions and guided itself, unwilling to give up the object of its fascination.

_Hadn't he said in the car that he wanted to kiss me?_

Well, I was game and he was gay, so, why not investigate the possibilities, right?

When one low sweep finally contacted my ultimate boxer-covered target for the first time, I felt him breathe in deeply. Suddenly, his eyes flashed blue and wide before narrowing, almost closing as the full force of what he'd felt me do raced through his body. The shock to his senses traveled through my hand and raced across my own body as well, ignoring any physical boundaries or limitations.

Just as my hand probed further than before, his eyes widened again. I couldn't see well enough to be sure, but I thought I saw was a glimmer of fear mixed in with his passion. I stopped my hand mid-stroke.

_What stupid thing had I gone and done?_

His hand covered mine then clenched. Not a bone crushing grip, but close.

"Let's not start something now. We have to get up in five hours."

His hand released mine and slid up my wrist, grasping it easily, and pulled it back to a safer place on his stomach.

_Right. Good idea. _ "Okay. Um, just making sure you wouldn't kill me in my sleep if I accidentally… you know… bumped you. I'm not used to sharing a bed… to sleep and all."

"Pretend it's the war. We did then with no problems."

_Yes, we did, asshole, but I wasn't in lust with you back then._ "Okay. 'Nite."

"Good night, Duo."

I must have dozed off, because I do remember waking up like a blast from hell. Suggesting I pretend it was the war ignited my nightmares for the first time in months. My imagination took over, mixing with terrible memories and spreading the result through my sleep like a fire out of control. It overtook me before I even had a chance to move out of its way.

I sat up panting, gasping for air in shorter and shorter breaths. Panic raged upon me. The drum beating in my head sounded one last resounding time, and then stopped. My mind parted from my body. My heart burned up and contracted into a knot of charcoal when my brain cut off any reassurance, and absolute mortification filled the void vacated by my abused heart.

_What was happening to me?!_

In a full state of alarm, I jumped out of bed and dashed across the room.

_Where fuck was I?_

I heaved for air in gasps, unable to suck in enough to stand. I'd reached the point of full combustion. The walls of the bedroom loomed and then the ceiling came crashing down on top of me.

"Aaaaaaaah!"

Heero must have watched this unfold. He certainly couldn't have missed the screaming and tearing around his room part.

I heard him shout, "Duo, come back."

I don't know how he did it, but suddenly there he was standing in front of me.

"Duo?"

His voice was soft and gentle with no trace of anger. He was there to pull me back from the flames.

"Breathe, damn it!"

I sucked in a lungful of air on command. He held me steady. We breathed together. He chanted his mantra over and over until my panic subsided.

"One, two, three, four—now hold it and… let it out slowly through your lips, two, three, four…"

My mouth went on automatic, seeing as my brain hadn't taken charge of it yet, so I didn't know what was coming out. "Ah shit." Gasp. "I don't know…" gasp, "… what happened." Gasp gasp. "This never happened before."

"You are shaking." His embrace tightened, but not so much to prevent me from sucking in air.

I got breathing running on automatic again and assessed the situation, coming up with: Duo goes mad.

"God, I'm not really messed up. Really. I'm cool and fun."

I heard Heero's deep sigh of disbelief. I stole a look hoping, I guess, to find some small glimmer of understanding in his face. His face was blank with the tiny suggestion of a frown, his usual. No reason to panic again, but I could have used a warm and agreeable expression. I couldn't bear the look in his eyes so I averted mine to the floor. His hand cupped my chin immobilizing me or I would have turned to the door and not stopped walking.

Then I remembered the dream that caused all the uproar, something that I had crammed down hard in my mind years ago: Heero and I had been clinched together with a firefight blazing around us. Holding onto one another, we'd been attempting to shield ourselves from fragments of red-hot metal flying overhead. I had been terrified then, near to complete panic and breaking down, but Heero had stood by me, probably just as scared, but so rock-solid. We'd held on until it was over.

When the barrage had ended and we'd discovered we were all right, still clinging tightly, clasped as if in a lover's embrace, there followed an awkward moment. That had been embarrassing at the time and I had forgotten it all. Until now.

Talk about buried secrets.

"Hey," he said. His smile cut through the pained look and he shook his head in some denial of the questions in my mind. "Where are you?"

"B-back from h-hell," I mumbled. "Flashback."

"I get them, too, sometimes."

I still couldn't meet his eyes. I still couldn't stop my trembling. I scarcely could get air past the congestion in my throat, but, regardless of my body's disabilities, the nonsense in my head tumbled out my mouth.

"Christ, I don't know what I was thinking," I started up. "You'd never be interested in me like that, I know. You never were. I don't know what made me think you might. Well, I do, but, man…I'm really sorry. And getting war flashbacks. How pathetic is that? I mean, just look at me!" I was shaking in his arms.

"You want me to look at you?" He paused to make sure I was listening, I guess. He had all my attention. "Okay, I'll look at you."

He freed me to move back a step, and when I looked his eyes held mine and would not let me go. His hands slid over my arms, refueling me with energy that had escaped my body earlier, and the warmth of his smile reassured me.

I nearly jumped out of my skin when his contact turned sexual. A hand moved up the front of my stomach, brushing my tight nipples and sending shuddering waves back down my body. He rested his hands on top of my shoulders to keep me still a moment, then, just as I was molding to his body, one hand went astray and made a free-fall back down the middle of my chest and stomach, slowing to a crawl before diving well below and to my arousal.

He touched me just for an instant. My lips fell open.

"Oh!"

Then he swept the hand back to my waist.

He leaned forward with a sly smile and whispered, "Now we're even."

"W-wa-at, huh?"

The rest of my brilliant wit was lost to mankind when he crushed his mouth over mine. Our tongues high-fived in my mouth before he released my lips and leaned back to catch his breath.

I'd given up on regular breathing around him. Air was over-rated.

We stood in a trance for a moment. Our bare bellies warmed each other and our mutual arousals made contract through cloth. I didn't know where we were going next, but I was raring to explore, do a little sightseeing, and even enter in on some in-depth work.

"You know you really are fun, like you say," he said.

I answered with a snort. I hadn't even gotten started.

"You know what I want now?" he asked.

I sure had clues, signals galore from him, but I wasn't a mind reader. Sadly, I hadn't the guts to pitch a firm proposal of my own either.

I couldn't resist him, though. "Anything you want, 'Ro."

"Idiot," he muttered though a chuckle.

He took my hand and led us back to his bed—the bed. He sat down and I stood there confused about what his expectations were. _Was I to give him a blow job or was he going to do me or were we setting up for long examination period and some mutual stimulation?_

I was absolutely not making any awkward assumptions, so I let him do the honors and drag me closer. From this angle, and in the low light coming in the door from the bathroom, I had a good view of his back injuries. Raw and rather recent.

"Get in behind me."

Now I figured out what he wanted. It was a much simpler and more innocent request than I'd been thinking, obviously. I slithered in under the covers, his back against my stomach and chest, moving carefully and making sure not to rub up against any sore spots. I tucked an arm underneath his pillow and tucked my legs against his, nestling my face and lips into the warm spot on the back of his neck. I inhaled pure Yuy scent and felt giddy with relief.

If Heero Yuy simply wanted me to hold him, then I would try to be that man for him. I didn't think I was incapable of living up to his standards. His wounds, harsh and brutal expressions of anger and loathing, might be soothed and healed by gentleness, tenderness, and affection. I didn't think it was, or thought to call it, "love" at the time, but that didn't make it anything less.

(o)

I awoke in the morning to the sound of activity-- not mine. The fact that I'd slept the night through was tribute to the company I was keeping, I'm sure. Well, that and the emotional wringer I went through between dinner and unconsciousness.

Wartime flashbacks sucked royal.

I knew exactly where I was, which was a step up from my middle-of-the-night shockeroo awakening. I was in Heero's bed. I didn't know where he was, but I could hear him and the apartment was small so he couldn't have gotten far.

I dumped the contents of my suitcase on the bed, sorted for jeans and a t-shirt and clean underwear, and got dressed. I had a locker at the work site with coveralls and space wear. Hopefully, my boots and jacket were someplace.

"Hey," was my universal greeting. This time it had to stand for, "Hi hot stuff making me breakfast in your underwear and looking good enough to eat," because I was not a good enough actor to say that aloud and look like I wasn't about to jump him.

I wasn't sure what was okay to do. Honestly, I was perplexed as to what was kosher the morning after a "date sort of panic attack sleeping with Heero kinda" evening.

"Hey," had to say it all.

"Morning. Here, you butter the toast while I get dressed. Coffee's over there. You'll find the mugs, eventually."

He flipped me a crooked smile and stalked off, knowing I'd follow him out with my eyes.

Sigh.

I found plates, butter, knives, and mugs. I found it all and divided the food onto two plates and waited for the coffee to complete its cycle. I had it all set out on the table and waiting by the time he reentered in his Preventers uniform.

And then he leaned over and kissed me with minty breath.

"I knew you could do it," he said as he pulled away and took a chair.

"I-It?" My mind was stumbling over the kiss looking for a subject and a verb beyond the basic "fuck me".

"_Find_ everything."

"Oh, yeah. You're organized so it's easy and you don't collect crap that gets in the way." _Except me, apparently._

"There's pasta, sauce, and salad makings. Whoever gets home first makes dinner, okay?"

"Sounds good. Ah, cool."

Heero flipped open his handheld computer notepad, and I couldn't help thinking that, wow, shit, and crapola, this guy was_ organized_.

"We need supplies," he said. "What do you like to eat?"

"Food. There ain't nothing I don't eat that I know of."

"That makes it easy, but you used to like pizza, as I remember. Any other favorites?"

"Ah, beer?"

"Food, Duo. For now." He typed furiously for a moment then without looking up said, "I'll do the shopping for food and you can purchase miscellaneous items."

He continued typing lists and lists and lists, one of which he sent to the printer. I know because he sent me to go retrieve it; it was _my_ list of items to buy.

"You gonna trust me with TP? Toothpaste? Oh, I see you have the brands here. Okay. No problemo. I'll pick the stuff up on the way home tonight."

He was staring at me. Waiting.

"What?" _Jesus, what had I said or done this time?_

"Do you cook?"

"Some. I can do pasta and salad. Nothing gourmet, heh, heh…"

"I'll try to be home earlier and cook, then." He jotted a few more notes. "I'll get some 'add water' meals and frozen entrées for when I don't have time."

"You're assuming I can heat water and read directions?"

"I—" He detected my sarcasm and snapped shut his mouth. He smiled and said, "Idiot."

He looked at the dishes and I took the cue like a pro. I hopped over to the sink and began scrubbing the dishes. "He who cooks, eats. He who cleans—," I began.

Heero wrapped his arms around my middle and ground himself into my back. "He who cleans makes the cook very, very happy."

Finally! I usually had a knack for eventually saying the right thing, and I hoped I'd hone that talent to suit Heero. I wanted my efforts to translate into becoming a good roommate so things would get more comfortable between us and I could stay.

"What time do you have to show up at work?" I asked.

"I should leave now, but there's no absolute time. You?"

"Same here. The sooner the better. If I got a crew working with me, that makes me fit to a schedule. Here on L5, I work alone mostly."

"No back- up for the space work?" His brows knitted together to form a firm warning.

"When I can, which isn't often." I fumbled for the keys to the car. "I know. It's dangerous. I get back-up when I'm floating out in space on a tether line, but mostly I'm in a craft collecting trash with a robotic arm. I ain't a big risk taker any more, except coming here, heh, heh… Yeah. So, do you have an extra set of keys to the apartment?"

"Oh! I'll take care of that. You'll need a pass card. It works for the laundry room, garage entry, mail room. I forgot."

At least he could admit his flaws. He also left off on the 'safety first' lessons. "Thanks, bud."

"_Bud?_" Heero shook his head. "Let's go."

"Damn it feels good to be behind the wheel of this car," I told Heero.

"That's why I bought it."

"So I could feel good?" I laughed when he rolled his eyes.

_I had not lost my touch entirely then._

"Turn left at the light, then right at the next street and go into the second driveway to the back."

"Sure thing. Pretty barren here still."

There was little traffic and fewer streets that went anywhere. Store fronts were largely empty and real estate was available everywhere.

"I don't see drunks in the alleys or pan handlers."

"So far we've been able to keep the syndicates off L5 entirely. Everyone works at something. If you can't maintain a job, you get shuttled to the rock of your choice."

"Tough love, huh?"

"Something like that."

"But it didn't keep out the psycho who cut you."

"Wasn't here."

I pulled into the Preventers driveway and waited him out. If he didn't want to talk about the assault, I wouldn't push him.

After a count of ten he heaved one of those giant "might as well get this over with now" sighs.

"It happened back in Sanc. We were messing around and he wanted to tie me up. I wasn't pleased, but since it posed no threat to me, I relented. He came at me with knives, attacked, and I retaliated by breaking his neck."

Heero demonstrated his move in the air.

I winced. "That must have been hard for you, ah, explaining the circumstances to your boss."

"God, it was awful. I called Commander Zechs—he's Une's second in command… he's stationed on earth-- to report the…problem. Agent Po was first on the scene. I had pants on by then, but… not the other guy, so it was obvious what had been going on. I'd kept my homosexuality a secret up until that."

"Still is," I told him. "At least, it was news to me." Heero's faltering recitation told me more about his distress than his words. I couldn't imagine having to face Zechs, once his arch enemy and now his superior officer, after all that. It must have been utter humiliation for a sensitive guy like Heero.

"Being gay was enough of a shock to the department. No one knew how to act around me or how to treat me. Most of the worst was hushed up, thanks to help from Winner. It was part of the negotiations… my leaving Sanc."

"I'm sorry, 'Ro. I didn't know."

"You had your own problems to deal with. Everyone did. Preventers dealt with it all quietly. I was absolved of any wrong doing, but Zechs and Une agreed it best to keep a Preventers agent gay/bondage sex scandal out the limelight. I was to keep a low profile, while the courts continued to settle damages. I still have a few months."

"So that's why you're on L5; that's pretty much out of the mainstream. But I don't get why there's still a trial going on. You were the victim."

"This time." He looked away over my shoulder, thinking. "I was a Gundam pilot, a terrorist, a killer. I might pose a threat if I lost control some other time."

"You, me, and the rest of us. But nothing's ever happened before that incident, and besides, it was self-defense."

He shrugged. "The other agent's family is trying to get insurance money so they have their own case. That's all that's pending."

He pointed out where I could pull up while he got out. "Wufei was kind enough to exchange jobs with me. It was short notice."

"It works for me," I said.

"Well, see you later," he said.

I waved to match his brusque gesture.

"I'll be home first to let you in," he said over his shoulder.

Oh yeah, no keys. Well, I had his car. Zooom!

End, Chapter Two.

TBC


	3. Chapter 3

**Free Fall **

Summary: Duo searches for the key to happiness and love while free falling through life

Disclaimer: I don't own any part of Gundam Wing or its characters. I make no monetary profit off this story.

Warnings: AU, rated for language, yaoi pairings

**Chapter Three**

* * *

After dropping Heero at the back entrance to Preventers HQ-L5 division, I spun the ASTRA 780 back onto the roadway, and followed the GPA instructions to my demolition site.

Take away gravity, atmosphere, orientation, natural light, sound, and context, replace them with dangerous radiation, abrasive planetary dust, and orbital debris, and what you've got are the baffling and disorienting demolition and construction conditions I usually worked under.

Welcome to my world.

At Winner Corporation, I'm called a sustainability engineer, a fancy-ass name for a garbage recycler. On Earth, buildings are typically demolished and dispatched to landfills, but in space, obsolete structures get disassembled and their components reused, which is where I come in.

It was highly dangerous work I was great at for rather decent pay.

On Earth, most building codes translated "life safety" to an acceptable risk determined by a rating system for materials and assembled structures. In space, "life safety" literally meant survival.

Consider the possibility of burning to death in a fire. Earthside, fire escapes and easy-access exits were required and usually sufficient, sprinkler systems getting used for larger buildings.

Not an option in space. Liquids don't fall.

Danger is a less remote concept.

But I grew up on a colony where the great void was only a slit in the skin away. My teenage years spanned a war where I fought with scythe and laser beam in outer space. Which all amounted to "life safety" procedures being a way of life for me.

As I said, there was highly dangerous work that needed doing and I was not only equipped to do it, but damn well the best worker in the business right off the bat.

Mostly I stowed my ass in my craft and used robotic arms to disassemble, position, and carry the loads. Putting on what amounts to the Pillsbury Doughboy suit and floating in free fall with nothing but a few tether lines and an emergency power pack between being the God of Death and Death itself was not my first choice.

Outer space was a heck of a place to build and work. For starters, it alternated frigidly cold and dark as ink with blisteringly hot and bright as a noontime desert—a climatic flip-flop that took place every three-quarters of an hour.

But working out in space paid well, and the day was often over before I realized it. Also, the best folks I'd ever known were all spacers.

One of the lift operators told me where to get bargain-priced TP, so I cut across town to buy as much stuff on Heero's list that I thought I could cram into the miniscule car. As long as I stayed away from the JUMBO packs I was good.

I used the GPS to verify my route home just once. After parking, I toted bags of crap, punched the room number, and Heero let me in, dangling a set of plastic card passes in my face.

"For me? Thanks--!"

Not only was the apartment filled with the odor of pasta sauce and frying sausage, but before I could kick the door shut, I was relieved of all things heavy and enveloped in everything Heero. Arms, legs, torso, and that kiss!

Our kisses varied, but were mostly soft. Not what I had expected from Heero Yuy at all. He didn't say anything, but I couldn't help but wonder what he expected from me.

My mouth moved off his lips and sucked along his jaw up to his ear to suck on the soft lobe. I freed up one hand and massaged across his toned chest, snaring a firm nipple between my fingers.

His hand clutched the back of my neck and pulled my face back to his. Our first kiss of the day in the kitchen had been sweet with little real zeal, more understanding and acceptance. The kiss we locked in after work was fueled by passion and a growing desire for sexual exploration; at least it was on my part.

With Heero, I lost track of my limits. I was nearly unconscious from lack of air and super dizzy excited when he stepped back and forced me to stand on my own two feet.

And it was impossible to hide my obvious hard on. I stood there for a moment looking at him, wanting to drag him into the bedroom and finish what we had started. Heero reached down and adjusted himself, grunting a little as he did it.

His humor might have been the only thing to save us from ourselves. "Down boy, down."

He could have been talking to himself or me, but either way we both smiled and snickered.

He indicated that I could go about putting away my purchases while he completed dinner. I hid away in our room, e-mailing a few friends and giving Heero some space. I didn't have him figured out at all. He was gay and wanted me. I hadn't put him off at all; still, he restrained himself from furthering any sexual activity. He seemed as frustrated as me, so I didn't think he was a tease. I just couldn't figure him out.

Dinner was terrific, but then I was starving and he'd prepared it. Heero and I ate in silence and then I cleaned up. After wiping my hands dry, I located Heero on the couch, working. He snapped his laptop closed and looked up.

"We should get to know one another," he said, "before we go further."

I didn't even ask him why he felt waiting was important. "Okay," I said, as agreeable as ever in spite of the surprise.

As I thought about it-- I wasn't a reflective sort of guy, ordinarily but being with a quiet guy like Heero made me more so—in the past, I had let my partners initiate sex. Quatre sure did and Hilde, too. First times, anyway. I would not be the one to press anyone into sex. If they weren't as excited about it as me, especially someone who'd had a bad experience like Heero, then I'd hold back, too.

And I was excited. My skin was prickly, my blood running high; I was itching to get on with it—it being sex, naturally. "But can you give me an idea how long that might take?"

"A week."

He reached out with his bare foot and nudged me away to a safer distance, smiling with what I hoped I read right as "reluctance" all the while. I sighed and resigned myself to the solitude of "my side" of the couch. I figured I could wait a week, but not much longer.

"Oh, well, okay."

Maybe I agreed too fast, because the corners of his lips twitched as he said, "Or more."

(o)

It's hard to believe, or maybe not, but doing laundry was never a favorite pastime of mine-- until I had Heero to share it with me.

I did laundry. Hilde did hers. I'd do mine, she'd do hers, but never together.

Heero, though, wanted to show me the "ropes", which meant his way of doing things, so we stripped the bed and collected towels, gathered our own stuff, and hefted it all to the basement facilities.

He started a "hot" load for the bedding and towels, inviting me to toss in my underwear with his, so I did. While that was happening, he went about sorting the rest of his clothes into piles, which he explained patiently, after noticing my flummoxed expression, probably, were piles of "permanent press", "darks", and "lights."

I told him about my "lights turn grey" single job loads and he thought I was being funny.

And then I assured him I was not.

That led to Heero instructing me to read "fabric care" labels and that led directly to sorting clothes for reasons he described in specific detail.

My pile of clothes and his pile of clothes became "our" piles of color-coded, fabric-content determined clothes. After that, I was pretty handy loading and unloading the machines.

Believe it or not, he was also rather particular about folding, and taught me a trick or two to shape all my things into orderly rectangles, which would fit neatly into his dresser drawers alongside his rectangles. Cool.

"The furniture came with the apartment. Half the bureau drawers are empty, so they're for your use, but if you want something more, or different even, we can shop for that, if you want."

"Not unless I have to," I said with a bark of a laugh. "I guess I'm lucky. I've never had to buy a stick of furniture. Anyway, I only need a shelf or two. I, ah, use a box or the floor back on L4."

I swear Heero winced.

"That makes it more difficult to vacuum," he said.

"Vacuum? Heh, heh…."

Yes, space was a vacuum. _Who knew that it was a dirt-sucking machine, too?_ Heero knew, for one.

"Well, if you hadn't told me before, I'd know now that you never lived with anyone, especially a girl." And because he laughed and his laugh gave me a little thrill, I didn't punch him.

I had a feeling he had "ways" of keeping his apartment clean that I'd never dreamed of, but would be illuminated upon in no time, and I wasn't disappointed.

"You didn't buy the brands I specified," he said.

_Well, tough shit._ "I looked for them, but they don't have the same ones at the Bargain Bin. Here's the receipt. You can see what I paid."

He studied the receipt, which I had saved like he'd told me (a miracle in itself), opened his handy-dandy pocket computer and entered and compared data. I was beginning to worry that I'd really blown it big at the Bargain Bin. _But why would one of my work buddies steer me wrong?_

"You saved thirty percent." His voice was wonder-filled.

"That's good, right?"

"Yes. Very. Where is Bargain Bin? How did you find it?"

_Score!_ I told him about the guys at work and how they knew how to cut corners and where to go bargain hunting. He didn't know people like that, and so I said I'd introduce him around. That's how I got the return invitation to meet him at the Preventers building, see his office, and go to lunch, whenever I had a free afternoon.

"Call first," he suggested. "I'm not always in."

"You bet," I agreed.

Cutting corners, whittling away at all the necessities, was all worth it to afford a car like 'Ro's. He and I were definitely in sync about that.

(o)

We kept to his schedule of early to bed, early to rise, and kept our bedtime activities as chaste as Sister Helen would have prayed for. It wasn't what I'd expected, imagined, or could have predicted.

From the get go, I had expected to split the chores and live independent lives, but as it was turning out, we cooked together and cleaned together, which was for my benefit, I guess, so I could learn the ways of the Yuy.

It wasn't so bad. He wasn't overbearing or fussy, just instructive, and then he'd let me go at things my way without picking out my mistakes. Nagging would have driven me nuts. I didn't mind the coaching and absorbed the attention it brought me like a street kid would a smile and a handout.

It was like that when we prepared dinner together, too. Rather than him going his way and me going mine, we gravitated to the same place and fell into working together.

"Sauté the onions with the ginger and garlic, while I finish slicing the zucchini."

"Sauté, 'Ro?"

"Like this."

"This way?"

"Hmmmm, yes."

Following his demonstration, I usually could execute directions, and if I did it right he'd reward me with kisses. I knew the training scheme; it wasn't as if he were trying to trick me into anything.

And it all worked out because I wanted to learn and make him happy, and he wanted us to mesh our lives and to please me.

Living together was comfortable and while not seamless, our time together was something I looked forward to after work. I hadn't noticed that he didn't own a TV and I hadn't watched a movie since moving in.

"Do you find our arrangement satisfactory?" he asked one evening while I washed dishes and he dried.

"Yeah, I do. How 'bout you?"

"Content, yes," he said. Our eyes met and he smiled with a kind of warmth that frizzled my neurons. "I missed you these past years and you've grown."

"Sure have. I'm still growing and I'll be way taller than you by the time I stop."

"Grown character-wise, smart aleck." He sniffed and smiled. "I thought you took things too lightly during the war, but it was me taking myself too seriously that was the problem."

"Perspective's hard to keep when the good guys and the bad guys keep changing places. Like the old ball-and-cup trick? If the slight-of-hand artist is good, you won't ever know where the ball has got to, but you might guess right some of the time."

"You guessed right a lot of the time. You saved my life once, I remember."

"What time was that?"

You'd think I'd remember an important event like that. Then he described that attack, rendering before my mind's eye that same terrifying scene which my brain had slipped past me our first night in bed.

_How had Heero known to choose that terrible scene from our past, that particular one? _

"The explosions grew closer and I froze," he said, and then repeated it, "Just froze there. Like in a trance as the awful spectacle took place. I was oblivious to the reality going on around us. You grabbed onto me and dragged me to the ground. I might have walked off into that raging inferno had you not held onto me."

I hadn't thought of it that way. A change of viewpoint transformed the whole story.

"I was scared shitless, 'Ro. I was pretty sure we were about to die and I was holding onto to you for dear life."

Our eyes met. His were deep and blue and searching mine for backup, I thought. "You were my lifeline then, and here you are again."

"Yep!"

"Saving me."

"You're saving me, too, ya know."

"I'm saving Winner Corp the cost of another apartment for you. You don't need me. You already have more friends here than I do."

"I might have acquaintances, but you're wrong about the needing part." I wrapped him in an embrace and ground into him so he couldn't overlook my carnal needs.

He laughed and shoved me away. I flung soapy water at him and he snapped me with the towel. I caught the tip of the towel and reeled him in, but he let go, spun around, and snared my braid. Oh, I squawked and punched him for that, which made the wrong impression on him.

He thought I was hysterically funny with that perverse sense of humor of his. He believed he was invulnerable to my attacks. He was not, just nearly. I made as much as possible of my superior height, but Heero Yuy was inhumanly and unfairly strong. Once he had my arms pinned to my sides, I was had.

I wiggled; I squirmed; I kicked, but only half-heartedly because I didn't want to actually hurt him. We were just roughhousing for fun and an outlet for our sexual tension.

"Say it, Maxwell."

"Nu-uh."

Squeeze.

"Say it!"

Squeeze, squeeze.

"Nuuh. Okay! You **win**, okay? Jeez…"

"You could have said it right off and avoided the pain."

"I'm not a weenie."

"Hn. I'm taking the first shower," he declared, having won that round.

(o)

In the last week I had before I was due back on L4, I scheduled in a visit to the Preventers agency where Heero worked. So far, he had lent me his car for getting to and from my job sites, while he had used the company car or snagged a ride home with some poor schlub from his work. To show him how much I appreciated the sacrifice it must have been to turn over his gorgeous wheels to me, I took off the afternoon to see him, pick him up, and go out to eat.

"What's with the rain?" I asked after dashing from the parking lot to the rear entrance of Heero's workplace. He met me under cover of a narrow overhang.

"It's not rain. It's a reoccurring leak in the water circulation pipes." And he proceeded to explain the combination of radiation on war torn metals mined from susceptible materials and placed in vulnerable positions.

"It's cold and getting dark and it's daytime."

"They are attempting to match the weather with seasons. This is winter."

"Why? It's a colony. We don't need seasons."

"Someone thinks so."

He was looking me over, a hungry look in his eyes.

"We can get dinner now," I suggested, though I wondered if a quick fuck in alley would have been more nourishing. If nothing else, I could face adversity of that sort, heh, heh.

"Yeah."

I followed his directions to a small Chinese restaurant on the outskirts of the town. The abandoned buildings and empty lots gave the area a broken, neglected appearance.

"Will your car be safe parked here?"

"Yes."

Ah yes, this was L5 and pretty much crime free. I gave the slick machine a love pat and looked for the direction to go. Heero took my arm and led me around the corner to the back of the restaurant. There was a moment of silence between us and I used it to listen for anyone who might be approaching. I had a healthy amount of caution firmly implanted in my brain. Muggers, gay-bashers, ex-Gundam-pilot-haters—I'd met them all at one time to the other in my past. Reassured by the quiet and secure in our darkened spot, I reached out and caught his waist.

"So, do you come here often?" I asked. I pulled him closer.

"Yes, but I chose this restaurant because the other agents don't come here."

"Oh. The folks at work don't know you've gotta male roommate, right?"

"Correct."

"And you aren't ready to let them know, huh?"

"Not until—"

"Not until we're solid. Gotcha. Hey, I wouldn't wanna blow my rep unless I thought it was a sure thing either."

"That's not what I meant. I don't care what they think, but I don't want to draw undue attention to you, should you not want it to get out that we are, oh, I don't know."

I wrapped my arms around his waist and held him close. "You don't care; I don't care."

My chin rested so comfortably on its favorite spot between his neck and shoulder, it was as if he were designed for me, created just for me.

"Warm." His hands slipped underneath my jacket and rubbed up and down the outside of my sweatshirt, inadvertently exposing the bottom of my lower back to the cold air. It was so good to feel him in my arms, even if for just a few minutes, I didn't mind the slight chill.

I could not believe how much my life had changed in just a couple weeks. I could not believe I was holding Heero Yuy like that. I could not believe I hadn't made a move on him yet. So I did.

I whispered into his ear, "I've really missed this," before wetting my lips and kissing his neck playfully. He rotated his neck to the side giving me better access to a soft spot previously just outside my reach.

I shoved my cold hands straight up the inside of his shirt, lifting it enough in the process to deliberately expose a very taut pair of nipples to the cold air, rolling them in unison with a thumb from each hand and sending him lunging backwards laughing and pulling his shirt back down.

"Cut it out!" he said. "I don't like that."

"Oh? We'll have to make sure about that later." I pitched my voice to sound husky and suggestive.

"You think?" he asked. He straightened his clothes and folded his arms across his chest.

"Yeah, it's been two weeks of abstinence." I waggled my eyebrows and he snorted.

"You've survived."

"Sure did. I'm tough."

Looking back, I shouldn't have said that. I should have whined and begged for mercy. But I had my pride and it chose to rear its stubborn head right then. I watched an evil smile spread to his eyes and felt this eager little chest palpitation go off like a cheer "yes!" I just knew I was getting lucky tonight!

"Then you _can_ wait until you get back from L4."

"Ah, fuck, 'Ro?" _Now_ I whined.

"Not tonight. I'm not ready, understand? We'll discuss this later. Let's go eat."

I huffed a little at the "injustice" then eased off and we entered the eatery through the back door. Like I said, I didn't force anyone into having sex with me. I never thought I'd feel like I'd have to!

The food wasn't bad and we took home boxes of leftovers to reheat the next day, but I wasn't content with how things had worked out.

_Why wasn't he ready? What more did he need to feel ready?_ I felt ready for the both of us.

I ducked into the shower first, while Heero looked over the mail. And as I combed out and plaited my hair, he cleaned up. He exited the bathroom and I asked the question that had been on my mind all evening since he driven me away.

"Why? I'm going back to L4 tomorrow night. I'd like a nice memory to take away with me."

He had to know what I meant; I was not into playing games. Still, he stood his ground.

"We are compatible in many ways, but we don't know one another—not really."

I fell onto the bed, my arms and legs spread. "I'm an open book. Flip through the pages. Find something you like. How 'bout it?"

Heero hovered over me, then slumped on top, supported by his elbows on either side of my head. I waited, expecting him to give in and kiss me any second.

"Your body is a manual for seduction." He tapped a finger against my head. "This is a vault of hidden information. This is what's closed off to me. I want to see in here."

A vault? For God's sakes I wasn't trying to hide. Much. "What is it you want to know?"

"You tell me. What should I know? Here's what I know about you: You had a war flashback and panic attack the first night you were here. You eat anything. You have been sexually active. You're adaptable, accommodating, friendly, and non-demanding—mostly."

"You left off hot and sexy," I said with a grin and hopeful expression.

"DUO!"

"Okay, so what's left that's important? I've never been in love. I never looked at you before as anything but a war buddy and now I see you as a friend and—"

"And?"

"Potential," I said, feeling rather lame to use Hilde's term for me. "I see potential, and a hot, sexy guy who I really want to touch me and fuck me—"

"I get the picture." He looked sad, thoughtful, and wary at the same time.

I know he wanted more from me, but I didn't know what at the time, which was his point, I guess. I didn't know him that well either, but it was clear that sexual attraction wasn't enough for him to change our "interaction limitations."

"Stop by the agency tomorrow, if you can, and I'll show you around. We can take the afternoon off."

"Can't. Gotta get a shitload of stuff done before I shut down to go back. I'll make it a point to drop by before I take off, though."

His face fell, but he recovered fast. Could it be that he was going to miss me and my intrusion into his orderly life?

"Now, go to sleep, Maxwell."

_As if!_ "Yeah, sure."

But as I lay there listening to him drift off to sleep, I thought about what he'd said. I could understand, kinda, why he wanted to wait. After the awful kind of experience he'd had with a fellow agent, what might an ex-Gundam pilot turn into? I'd know how to restrain him properly; I might get the upper hand. He might see me as a very real possible threat. Yeah, I'd want to be sure ole Duo Maxwell's head was screwed on straight if I were him.

But not too straight.

(o)

The next day I had a change of heart and put off the work. Let them try to replace me! I showed up at his job place and Heero delightedly took off the rest of the day to be with me. It was my last day on L5 before I'd return to L4 for two long weeks.

To celebrate, Heero took me to his health club and signed me up for a year membership. That was nice. Even nicer was his letting me wear a spare set of sweats and getting a chance to work out with him. Not that I could keep up, but I didn't embarrass myself.

A few guys were checking me out, not in a gay "cute ass" way, but in a social, competitive male "nice pecs" way. They looked over Heero too, green with envy. Let them; only I had touched him. After and good hour of muscle flexing, we showered and had lunch.

"Ready to see my office?"

"After that workout and a full stomach, I'll be ready for bed, but I'll bet your office has a comfortable sofa I can crash on."

He thought I was funny, I think, but I was truly tired from the work out. He let me off the hook for a whole-building tour and didn't call me a wuss. "I need to pick up something at my desk then we can go to our place until it's time for your shuttle."

Workaholic Yuy was taking off the rest of the day for me. I was touched.

The sign etched into the glass at the door read: Chief of Security Overseeing Reconstruction.

"Now there's a title. How come your name's not on it too?"

"So far, no one's held the job longer than nine months. Saves on the window dressing."

I nosed around the room, noting a paper on his desk with red URGENT lettering across the top from the Institute for Biomedical Problems. "So, what's your biggest threat out here?"

"Huh?" His eyes traced around the desk to the paper that had caught my attention. "Oh, that. Bacteria and fungus cover equipment, feed on the surfaces, and damage them. The acids some bacteria secrete cause metal corrosion and damage the instruments and illuminators. Some fail to survive in colony environments, but the majority adapt and then get carried around by transport spaceships. That memo is from the head of a research group who investigates microbe conglomerations in space. She believes more anti-microbe protection is needed."

"And of course she has some new-fangled proposal?" I asked.

"Yeah, you guessed it. Some new and original method of disinfection in space. "What we use now is a spray application to everything making the surfaces hydrophobic."

"Oh yeah?"

"Water vapor does not stick on the material; and microbes cannot survive on an absolutely dry surface."

"Gotcha. But how can you make sure everything's been sprayed? I wasn't treated-- or was I?"

"I doubt it and, yeah, that's a problem. So, what researchers have developed is a way to slow down all life process, for microorganisms, called anabiosis. That means that cells don't grow, reproduce, or secrete harmful substances."

I scanned the document until I found the word anabiosis. "Polymodal anabiosis autoinductors: they stop the microorganism growth and metabolism when applied to construction materials and instruments." Cool. "Just so that doesn't get into the food supply or water, right?"

"It's microbial-specific and no danger to humans."

"You hope."

"I believe."

"Make sure, okay?"

"For you, I will." He smiled. "For you—"

The rest of his comment was lost in the peal of the vid phone alarm, so I stood back so he could take the incoming call, and I scanned his bookcase.

"Wufei! What is it? It can't be good by your expression."

I examined the contents of his bookcase and eavesdropped intently.

"…Going into a civil law suit, criminal charges dropped as long as you remain on L5 until further notice…"

I dusted off the top of the file cabinet, and looked for something else to occupy my attention. His desk was wide with papers and files stacked at the sides. It was clean in the middle. My imagination pictured him there—naked. Suddenly, I was feeling all peppy, getting my second wind. I moved the pencil holder and the artificial plant to the floor, just in case.

I heard Heero sigh, and then ask, "Won't that be a problem for you? You were hoping to establish your own life here."

Looking over the wall décor took no time at all, so I crept around to the door and engaged the lock.

His eyes shot my way, acknowledging I'd locked his door, then back to the vidphone.

"I am working on other arrangements." Wufei's voice sounded resigned and distant, but to me that's how he always sounded, that or angry.

"I'm sorry," Heero said. I nudged his back, letting him know I was near.

"I know. Don't dwell on this."

"Did I tell you, Winner hooked me up with a roommate?"

"You want a roommate after…all…that happened?" Now, _that_ was the faltering and sputtering with anger Wufei I knew.

"It's Duo."

"Maxwell?" He looked practically apoplectic when I looked over Heero's shoulder and waved.

"Yes, Duo Maxwell. His work takes him from L4 to L5, so he's staying with me part time. He's standing right here; would you like to say hello?"

I poked my head in front of the monitor. "Yo, Wu! Long time no see."

"I am speechless. You look…well."

He appeared _well_, too. In fact, he was taking my intrusion into Heero's life better than I had thought he would. He had only sounded like he was about to have a stroke.

"So do you. I like your hair down like that. Mine's a bit shorter." I wiggled the two-foot long braid at him, and he blinked then smiled.

"That's hardly shorter. Listen, I'm sorry, but I really am late for an appointment," he said. "We must talk more-- later."

"Well, I'm goin' back to L4 inna couple hours, so our chat'll have to wait for my return trip in two weeks. _Ciao_, Wu!" I didn't have a vidphone at the L4 apartment.

"Thanks, Wufei." Heero cut the vid and fell into a relaxed lean against a wall ready to resume our conversation. "Where were we?"

"Anabiosis. You have a degree in architectural engineering? When did you finish that?" I pointed to a nicely matted document on the wall.

"I took time off and Preventers paid me to get a degree."

"Man, Une must like you."

"Yeah, but much less now," he said with a mirthless chuckle.

"So, why do this job when you could be constructing…what? Buildings?"

"Space architecture. It's a specialty within a profession where you must think outside the ozone in several areas."

"Cool. You should do that. Quit this and be an architect."

"No firm will hire ex-Gundam pilots."

"Then they're fools."

He gave me the most appreciative look ever, and then he was on me, literally.

Hands, lips. God, I loved the taste of him. Our tongues tussled for control but neither won over the other. I moved my mouth off his and clamped onto that soft spot under his chin that made him moan. I sucked until he whimpered and then I nipped him for good luck before sliding over his lips for more.

I could not get enough of him. My hands were rubbing his chest and stomach, but I couldn't feel him. This had to change, so I helped him shed his uniform jacket, tie, and button-down shirt. I hooked the bottom of his white T-shirt and pulled. He was enjoying a special moment with my bottom lip and took an extra second before giving me just enough space to pull the shirt completely over his head and toss it to the side. With full access to his warm, golden skin I planned to drive him crazy to the limit he'd drawn for us.

He groaned as my fingers brushed over his nipples. That shot my resolve to hell. One of us was getting some _now_. Duo Maxwell was in charge, baby.

My lips wrapped around his and my hands massaged his shoulders finding something malleable in that rock-hard build of his. He bent, stretching his groin into mine and let out a needy groan.

That was too much for me.

"Jesus," I hissed, teeth clenched against screaming his name.

I wanted him so bad.

I tried a feather-light touch along his sides and he squirmed and bucked.

"Yuy's ticklish," I whispered. "Your secret's good with me."

"Nuh, nuh, not!"

_Sure, babe. _"You are so hot," I muttered, moving my hand consciously over, down, and center, hooking onto his excitement and grasping it through his slacks. I felt him shiver at the contact, and knew the pants had to go next.

I unfastened his belt, unhooked the top button of his pants, and sent the zipper flying with nimbleness born out of necessity. This I could do with my eyes closed, and actually did, because my face was buried in his neck.

I was so involved in what I was doing to him, I missed what he was doing to me. Almost. I was _aching_ hard for him.

My hand slipped beneath his boxers smooth as silk. I found my goal and exposed him to the open air of his office.

"Guh!" he murmured inarticulately. Better than "stop" or "not now."

We toppled over onto the purposely cleared desk, me sprawled over him, him arching into my chest, his head flung back. I stared at him. Fuck, he really filled out when aroused; twice the girth and length of Quat. The sight of him like that instantly reinforced my cock to Gundanium standards, and I thrust into his thigh.

I had to touch and he wasn't stopping me. My hand encircled him, fingering, touching, no overlap. Fuck, he was big. A stroke or two more and he tightened. I could almost hear his teeth grinding as he suppressed the volume of his pleasurable gurgles. I heard a splatter and a pool collected on his desk and then he went boneless under me.

He awed me with that performance, short as it was.

Afterward, we kissed playfully for a minute or two. Nothing demanding or invasive just sharing a bond, making each other feel good. We moved, turning over and trading places. He rolled over my erection, getting off his back, and it occurred to me that I hadn't released. What's more, I felt surprisingly indifferent to him reciprocating at this point; I liked the pressure in my jeans reminding me of how he looked under my control.

The paper blotter crinkled as I rolled over it, wiggling myself out from under him the rest of the way. He didn't appear to be self-mobile, so I did the honors and cleaned him off with his discarded t-shirt and mopped off the desk. When I had finished, his eyes opened and searched out mine.

"C'mere."

Apparently, he couldn't wait for me to obey his order. He reached out and hauled me down onto him, and then kissed me deeply.

I felt his hand squeezing between our compressed bellies.

"'S okay, 'Ro."

I pushed off and gave him a satisfied smile, and he looked back, puzzled.

"Is something wrong?" he asked with concern.

"Not at all. Actually, I don't think anything could top the way I feel right now. I just want to let it settle in, you know?"

My words drew a look of amusement and surprise from him. I could tell by the way he asked, "So that was all just for me?"

"This time around. I wanted to leave you with something to think about. Me, too."

That night, he drove me to the launch site to watch me take-off with my load of L5 scrap. I left behind two-weeks' worth of clothes, a piece of my heart, and, I liked to think, a mopey Heero Yuy, who would miss my company enough to look forward to my return and not regret his choice to invite me into his life.

End, Chapter Three.

TBC


	4. Chapter 4

**Free Fall **

Summary: Duo searches for the key to happiness and love while free falling through life

Disclaimer: I don't own any part of Gundam Wing or its characters. I make no monetary profit off this story.

Warnings: AU, rated for language, yaoi pairings

A/N: Thank you Waterlily for the invaluable editing.

**Chapter Four**

* * *

"…How far will I go? Despite the foundation, I am falling …

Where am I heading? Could you grant me a haven? ...

Don't keep it from me!

This is a free fall! This is a free fall! …"

I was singing along with a tune chosen by the pilot who'd been flying this rig before me, and noticing how the song fit my life. Carrying my L5 scrap load for recycling into new colony construction material on L4, gave me some uninterrupted, quiet time to think.

Living with Heero had been my first experience sharing a home with anyone. Visiting Quatre in a mansion with servants or living across the hall from Hilde really did not count as communal living.

Heero, on the other hand, had shared a place with another man and had a bad experience. I know he didn't want to repeat that failure and even if he didn't think I'd try to kill him, there had to be a voice in the back of his head warning him about the new, untried guy.

I knew this because in listening to that voice of reason, Heero had taken sex off the table from the outset. We'd bent that rule some, but I know he was waiting for a sign in order to trust me completely. This all added up to why I had been so eager to make things work.

I wasn't leaving L5 feeling Heero would have thrown me out if I hadn't folded a t-shirt right or anything, but I felt as if I was still on temporary loan to Heero and continuing to fly a test pattern until I'd earned my stripes, which in this case was sex rights.

I wasn't feeling like I was leaving _my _home to go home, either' I was leaving Heero's place to go back home. What was I to expect, though? I'd only been at Heero's place for two weeks and now was going back to where I'd been living for more than a month.

The more I pondered the idea of "home," I realized I didn't feel particularly drawn to my L4 apartment either. Notably, I didn't immediately go to my place when I got into L4.

Of course it was late, after midnight, and at that hour the buses would be running irregularly enough to get me to my apartment around two AM. If I was to get my cargo unloaded on time the next day, I'd have to get in line for docking space no later than 7:00 AM, meaning I'd have to get up no later than 6:00 AM. Since I no longer relished getting up to meet a day's work after only four hours rest, I'd probably ignore the alarm and oversleep, and that would trigger an even later start unloading the junk the next day, which meant an especially long day, and, frankly, it all sounded unappealing, so I camped out in the carrier ship at the spaceport.

It was not the first time I'd done this; I had slept onboard like this before. The ship was a Winner Corporation Sustaining the Universe scrap collecting carrier vessel with the craft designator: _WinSustain2796_. She lacked creature comforts and was cramped, but I'd certainly stayed in worse places under more dire circumstances during the war. Besides, I reminded myself before dropping off to sleep, I'd be first in line for unloading in the morning, making the confined accommodations more appealing.

"Looky'ere it's Maxwell! Missed you, darling." This was said by a very deep, masculine voice accompanied by kissy sounds from around the port.

"Well, I didn't miss your ugly mug, Stevie." I shouted. "Anyway, get used to it again, 'cause _I_ am _back_ in town for a fortnight."

"Nice shit!" Yelling up at me from the giant hydraulic lift was Dave. "Where you been to get quality scrap like this?"

"This is genuine top grade L5 super structure," I said.

"I hear the rebuilding's going good there. How's it look?" That was Evy. She was always looking for a better place to live.

"Bleak, empty, safe. You have to have a job to get in and behave or they throw you out. But I like it." I smiled and shrugged off the reason why.

The unloading and moving around of the entire load took me through lunch and well into the dinner hour. Dave was newly married and rushed out to see his wife. Stevie and Evy and I stuffed ourselves with burgers, fries and beer at the local dive, before heading our separate ways.

Easy as it was to fall back into my routine, when I reached the apartment building the inhospitableness of the place struck me, not the familiarity: empty and messy in a hollow, pointless, dirty, cluttered and disordered kind of way. _Was this home?_

I was, in fact, disgusted by the muddle I'd left the place in. _Maybe seeing it through a beer bottle would help?_ Possibly some noshes to go with it, too. Out of habit I turned on the TV as padded my way to the starkly supplied fridge. My foot pulled out of its sock.

"Ugh, what's with that?"

I unpeeled my sock from the sticky floor, vaguely remembering the time I spilled some juice. One peek inside the refrigerator was as good as a long look.

"Nothing edible or drinkable there."

I rustled up some microwavable popcorn and started cleaning while waiting for it to pop. I found a pen and paper and started a list of provisions. I collected the trash strewn about the counters and took out the garbage. I washed, dried and put dishes away, those that didn't have to soak in the sink longer.

"Next time I'll do that before I leave," I promised myself. "How hard would that be?"

The third time the floor cost me my sock was the last; I marched to the janitor's room and borrowed a mop, bucket, and cleanser. I turned on my music, which I resolved was a MUST have for my next trip to L5, to make the quiet bearable and wished Heero was there to help-- not see the mess, just be there to keep me company.

I realized what I was really looking forward to was going back to Heero's apartment. To Heero.

"Hello! I hear your music. You back Duo? You should have called!"

"Hilde?" Before I could drop my mop, she bounded into the kitchen, and into my arms.

"I missed you," she said between girlfriend-to-boyfriend type kisses.

And since I couldn't honestly say the same thing, I didn't. I did like her and liked holding her, but I hadn't missed her. I'd been busy!

"C'mon over. We can celebrate. I got a relatively new movie to watch."

"Sounds great," I said. "Sure. I just gotta finish this corner and return the mop."

"I've never seen you clean anything," Hilda said.

I posed, mop and bucket at each side, and grinned. "I am not losing socks to the floor anymore. Okay, I'm done. Let's go before I think about cleaning the bathroom."

"Smells like bleach in here. We can go to my place while it dries."

"Okay."

"What happened on L5?" she asked as we sank with familiarity born of repeated past experiences onto her worn couch.

"I collected scrap near—"

"Don't give me crap about work." And she sounded annoyed to me, too!

"O-kaay." It was "scrap" not "crap" anyway…

"Or 'okay' me. Duo, we haven't seen each other in two weeks and you're mopping the damn floor before calling me? What's up with that?"

I guess I should have called her and let her know I was back. It just hadn't occurred to me. Looking back on it, when it came to close relationships, I had a lot to learn.

"It was dirty?" I avoided her swipe at my head with a duck to the right. "Hey, I got tomorrow morning off and I was gonna take a shower, clean first, then call, all right? But my sock was glued to the floor so I had to clean it."

"Then you were going to call? As your girlfriend, I deserved a call first thing."

"Shower first and then call. Hey, I've been working since six this morning without a break."

"Oh, poor baby."

That got me the sympathy I deserved, and from there our conversation degraded into a make-out session, which led to a half-hour break to shower, separately. I had to force myself not to see the mold growing on my tiles or I'da been up all night sterilizing the bathroom.

I met her back at her place, where she had candles burning in the bedroom. The sex was awesome because I hadn't had any for so long and I swear I blocked Heero from my mind completely and on purpose. Before I fell asleep, I rolled out the door and stumbled into my own heap of blankets.

Then I thought about Heero, whispered to his pretty face a "goodnight," and crashed.

When I woke up the next day, reached for Heero, and found him gone, I honestly thought for a split second that I'd open my eyes, get up, and find him starting breakfast in the kitchen. But it wasn't his bed, it didn't smell like his fabric softener, and it wasn't his room, because it looked like shit had moved in and set up house.

Artificial sun streamed in, so it had to be near noon, and maybe the darkness of night had hidden some of the evil, but in the light of day--

"God Damn! Whatta hell-hole!"

I was lucky not to have a skin rash from the seedy sheets. One look at the shower stall and I nearly puked. That was close enough to actually being ill, so I called in sick at work for the rest of the day, got dressed, grabbed the list of things to buy, and went out for a walk. My walk took me past a coffee shop for a bite and sip, and then it was shopping at the local drug store. I bought cleaning supplies that I could carry and what I thought couldn't be borrowed and took them home.

I tackled the bathroom first, which was good because I was in top form right then. It was a big brute of a job, and later, worn out and needing a rest there wouldn't have been a chance in hell I would have gotten the job done.

My only concession to my immediate needs was to order pizza as I was wiping out the sink.

One nasty job completed, I ripped off the sheets and gathered towels and hauled them to the laundry room. While the load was washing, I dashed out to pick up the order. I needed the fresh air and the break from breathing cleaning fumes.

I wondered what Heero was doing, what security issues he had to deal with today, what he was going to prepare for dinner, or with whom? Did he miss me or fall back into his previous habits, see his other friends? He did say he had friends, although not many and I didn't meet any of them, even at work. I could sure see how he'd have problems trusting folks after having a fellow agent turn on him that way. But he and I seemed to get along fine. Real good.

I considered ringing him up to chat, but didn't, believing he'd consider that was lame, and it would be. He got along fine without me before. No reason smothering him.

I paid for the pizza and made to go home, but the smell of the cheese and sauce drove me nuts, so I decided to just eat it at the shop after all. I asked for water and some napkins and ate the pizza outside on a sidewalk table and washed it down with bottled water. When I was a kid on L2, a table and chairs left outside would have been stolen in under ten minutes, tops. Without much seriousness, depth or insight, I wondered if it would ever change there and flashed a carefree smile at passersby. I felt deeply happy with my life.

Then I remembered the wash and remaining work waiting for me back at my apartment. I could have crammed the remaining pizza slice in my mouth so as not to waste anything, but instead I remembered what Heero'd taught me. I packed up what I hadn't eaten and headed back. Something for later. Heero would be so proud of me.

As I stepped into the laundry room, my cell phone buzzed.

"Hey."

"Hiya, you okay? Stevie told me you called in sick today."

"Hilde? Yeah, well, don't tell the boss, okay? I just needed to get some food and rest."

"Good idea. You were a bit off last night, if you know what I mean. Hey, our connection's breaking up."

"Yeah, basement walls block the signal. I had nothing clean to wear, which is why I'm talking to you from down below. I'm doing the wash."

"I'll call you later when I get home."

"Okay, later."

I was a bit "off" last night? _What had she meant by that?_ Was that off personality-wise or in bed, I wondered. And I can tell you, guys don't wanna worry about their performance in the sack. No, sirree.

So, in order to stop thinking about _that_ possible shortcoming, I buried myself in cleaning activities. Between diligent washing, drying, and folding four loads of laundry, I borrowed the vacuum and cleared out the worst of the dirt from the bedroom and front room. As industrious as I was, though, I still found a way to chew her words over and over and wonder about my sexual prowess. Heero hadn't complained with what he'd gotten, and that had just been a prelude, so to speak.

I came to the conclusion that it was just as easy to tidy up a bit as to live in squalor, and I was certain I'd been as good in bed last night as ever.

Problem was, once I got started cleaning it was hard to find a cutting off point. Not everything could hang in the closet when I only had two hangers and I didn't want to put my neat rectangles of clothes on the old rug like I'd used to, so I piled my wardrobe in orderly stacks on the bed. Obviously I couldn't sleep in it that way. I needed something to hold my folded clothes.

I was also sweaty and dirty. I was not going out like that. Heero never did. So I stripped, showered, and dressed first. This time, my walk around the blocks of my neighborhood proved void of solutions. No one was unloading gently-used dressers to the streets these days.

I checked my list, and decided to shop for groceries, at least. That's when I saw the milk crates stacked at the back. They were strong and clean; they would work for clothes. I ended up negotiating with the manager, and I got six crates. It took a couple trips to carry both the crates and the groceries home, but it was worth it when I had a refrigerator full of food and a decent bedroom to live in.

I stood in the short hallway and scrutinized the results, asking myself, "Would I invite Heero inside?" That was my quality test. I decided "Yes, I could," and felt very accomplished.

"Duo Maxwell!"

I nearly jumped out of my skin. Hilde's voice jangled my teeth. I was going to have to change the lock my door and not give out the key. Or maybe ask Hilde nicely to telephone first?

"Back here."

Hilde stood in the doorway arms akimbo. "I tried calling and I got worried when you didn't answer. It's seven o'clock! What are you doing?"

"Cleaning house?" I looked around my room and smiled. "Done for tonight. If you haven't had dinner I can start something,"

"My… God."

"At your service, heh heh… What? I'm not promising anything fancy. I was thinking noodles with Thai peanut sauce?"

"My… God… You have been _domesticated_."

I didn't like the sound of that. It reeked of taming and breaking and I'd undergone no such demeaning changes, but I was also not in the mood to argue. I really wanted to try out the new brand of chili oil I'd found. Even at the small market in this neighborhood, I had more product choices than at the largest shop I'd found on L5. I wanted to call Heero and have him come up with a list of things I could look for. Stock up for the next trip.

"Your sink's empty. You have food in your refrigerator!"

Hilde kept walking about stating the obvious. It was getting on my nerves.

"What did you do to the real Duo Maxwell?"

There really wasn't any civil way to answer that one. "Why don't you put on some music, relax, while I get dinner ready."

I could feel her eyes on me for a few seconds. "I'll do that. Okay."

We had dinner watching TV on the sofa.

"This is good. Who's the girl?"

_Girl?_ Smart as a whip, I reckoned that she meant the "girl" on L5 domesticating me.

"There's no girl, honest. There isn't even a woman working crew. Just time on my hands and not much else to do."

Not a complete lie, but close to it.

"Oh." Her calculating glance softened and she wisely dropped the cross-examination. "Well, it smells better in here now and the food's good."

"Yep." Yes, it was.

After that rough beginning, she and I fell back into our friendly ways. We slept together a couple more times, but not every day. We were comfortably close. But one thing I didn't tell her about was Heero Yuy.

Hilde was a clever girl who'd chase the leads in no time. Mystery girl would morph into mystery_ boy_.

I would have to admit to her that I was obsessed over another boy and he was Heero Yuy, because I wouldn't change so dramatically for just anyone. Only for someone important. I wasn't even ready to acknowledge all that to myself. Or accept it.

(o)

A day short of two weeks later and impatient to see Heero, me and my scavenger vessel were cruising for docking space on L5, when I got a call from the traffic controller.

"Greg here. WinSustain2796, come in."

"Maxwell here, whatsup, Greg?"

"A piece of derelict colony structure broke loose and is in free fall orbit with substation 344. Impact in four hours unless you can maneuver it elsewhere."

"Well, I was looking forward to a little R&R (and a lot of Heero), but what the hell, right? Download the coordinates and tell'em I'm on my way. How many people are out there?"

"Couple hundred. Half have been evacuated and the rest will be by the time you get there, so no lives are at stake."

"Just umpteen billion dollars worth of equipment, huh?" I asked.

I was on my way with an ETA of fifteen minutes. It gave me time to get a visual up and think about how to stop and move a piece of junk the size of the Sanc palace, its grounds, and most of the surrounding countryside.

"Holy shit! That's big."

"You'll have help in the way of an advisor from Preventers, whose shuttle should be hailing you any moment. Good luck, Maxwell. Traffic control over and out."

"Thanks, Greg." Preventers? I wondered if the satellite substation was one of theirs.

I was about to find out. "WinSustain2796. This is Preventers Agent Yuy on your left. I can guide you in. I also have some ideas as to how to hook and move this."

"Heero! This is Duo! Turn on your visual. Hey! How cool is this, huh? I feel so much better knowing I got you at my back here in case I gotta go outside."

"Duo! You are a day early."

"Good thing, huh? We ain't got much time to save this baby, so we'll haveta visit later, 'kay, bud?"

"Affirmative, ah, Duo."

"See? Calling me 'Duo' ain't so hard, right?"

"It wasn't that; it was you calling me 'bud'."

"Don't like that? Fair 'nuff. I'll stick with 'Ro, that okay?"

"Yes."

"Glad that's settled. Anyway, so looks like we got inflatable over hard, load-bearing core.

"Yes. I have determined that the core can be reduced to a tensile stabilizer by removing the internal trusswork. The truss is made of modular, graphite-composite shelf units with universal attachments."

"Uh, huh. So in layman's terms, how do I remove the trusswork in space?"

"There are two release points. Using the mobile arm, you can reach them both. The first is nearest the station, which means you begin there. My shuttle craft is fitted with bump-guards, so I can supply additional thrust."

"Umm, thrust. Yeah, gimme some of that."

"Duo—"

"Just lightening things up. So the composite structure is flexible but also high-load?"

"Yes."

"Good. I'm going in. Tell me about release points. What do they look like?"

I wheeled my garbage truck (that's how I visualized my craft, which had the form and handling of the unwieldy ground-bound gig) between the space junk and its distant target. Heero buzzed his sleek little spacecraft through a gap in the debris and aimed at a complicated structural interface.

"Hook the mechanical arm onto the lever and pull."

"That shiny bar with the dent and abrasions?"

"Yes, if it's damaged you'll have to apply additional force, but in the process you'll divert the approach angle. I have the range of movement calculations … downloading to you now… I believe the parameters are scalable to your mechanical arm."

"Got'em', Ro. They're fine, but you know I'll probably have to wing it. No worries. I've been trained and certified with this baby."

"It is my job to guarantee the safety of the station, you realize." Heero paused and we exchanged meaningful glances from afar. "I trust you."

"Good. Where will you be when I release the lever?"

"At the other lever." He rattled off the precise position, which appeared on my 'notes' area of the communication monitor. "When pulled simultaneously, the latches enable the structural folding mechanism and it collapses. My craft has an arm with limited motility. It can hook and hold, but I'll rely on you to provide the pull. When the release is complete, as I said, I can provide propulsion to help you move the material to a safe location."

"First things first. I'm going for the lever."

Using the arm's camera system, I could use my fail-safe hands-on method for deployment. There was a lot of silence while Heero positioned his craft out of my sight to search for his own lever to grab hold of.

"Lever secured, 'Ro."

"Rodger. This vessel's arm is shorter than specified. Going in closer."

The seconds ticked away. Every moment the floating hunk of colony structure sailed nearer to the satellite substation. One good yank and I could jolt it into a new heading. A few seconds of thrusters and it would be clear of its target, but until Heero was ready I couldn't risk ramming the structure into his ship. So, I waited. We had used up half the time until imminent collision.

"Lever secured. Counting down?" Heero said, giving me control of the timing.

"Okay, 4…3…2…1…engaging arm." Nothing budged. "Cranky thing. Thrusters low power—"

"Got it!" I shouted, relieved. I did not have a plan B if it hadn't worked.

I don't know what I expected to happen next. I had never collapsed a skeleton. The lever had finally yielded yet nothing appeared to be happening.

"So? Now what? Is it collapsing?"

"The locking mechanism is disengaging throughout the structure. It takes a minute. Detecting rib movement. I have to move. I will join up with y—"

"'Ro?"

Silence.

"Heero? Heero! Damnit, come in! Lost contact!"

My first instinct was to race, or in my awkward slug of a vessel, _lumber _to his side. I checked the monitor for his position, a blip on the screen. "I don't have a visual on you, 'Ro, or communications, but I think I located you_." _

_Ah, shit. _I couldn't go after Heero. The structure was still moving on a collision course as it continued to fold in upon itself. I had to move it and now!

I redeployed my vessel's mechanical arm at a safer attach point and hoped that I could get to Heero later. It wouldn't do him any good if I failed to move this hunk of junk out of the path of destruction.

I fought back my rising fears, stomping down all those useless pictures of "what might be his problem" and engaged the thrusters.

"Full throttle," I said, in case he could hear me. "I'm towing us toward the hangar." I signaled the traffic controller. "Greg? You still there? This is Maxwell--."

"Maxwell on WinSustain2796? Status."

"I'm towing this hunk of junk because we collapsed the interior structure and I think Heero, that is the Preventer agent assisting me, is trapped inside it. I lost com with him, have no visual, but he's on the monitor."

"I don't want that debris near the launch site," Greg said.

"But I gotta get to a portal opening! Fine. I'm not letting him go, though. You'll just have to send out some tugs. I'm freeing the agent and bringing in his ship before moving this piece of shit. Four tugs can hold its position, right?"

"Affirmed. Four manned tug crafts requested, Maxwell. You're a real pain in the ass, you know?"

"Safety first and this'll pose no threats to anyone."

"Costs."

"Hey, if I hadn't stopped this thing when I did, remind me where it would be and the costs incurred then."

"Right. Just for you, Maxwell, the tugs are launching. First one is approaching you."

"Thanks, Greg. See'im."

I answered the hailing tug craft and we exchanged ideas on how to proceed. Tug operators are real pros. Totally undaunted by the size of the massive hunk of colony I was hauling, the other tugs joined in and buzzed about deploying towlines and securing the mass.

They were limited in what they could do, though. It would take dozens of them to match my thrust power and hold the hunk of junk in place. They certainly couldn't have handled the job without me. If I hadn'ta shown up when I had and with the scrap un-collapsed and moving, the tugs would have had absolutely no chance diverting it from the satellite.

"WinSustain2796—you can disengage."

"Thanks guys. Oh, ah, call me Maxwell, 'kay? I got your positions here. I'll try not to hit any of you." I explained my plans as I pulled my craft's arm free of its grip and drew it clear of the surrounding material. "Here's where I'm going. There's another ship stuck in here someplace I gotta free."

"Maxwell? Tom, here. I've got a visual on the other craft. Tail section trapped and com array crushed."

That explained why Heero's communication had shut down. I wheeled past another tug, giving him as wide a berth as possible, and saw Tom's tug in the distance. He resembled a spider hanging from his silk, except he wasn't _hanging_.

"How about the pilot? Can you see him?"

"Positive. We are exchanging hand signals. He says 'status good'. Friend of yours?"

"Tom, you've got no idea how you just made my day. Yeah. He's a buddy."

I slowed to a crawl as I came upon Heero's little ship. The tail and left side were embedded in the deflated shell.

"What I'm gonna do is run a tether line to the nose and use that to tow him into the hangar after I cut him free. Any way you can signal him to hold on tight a little longer?"

"I'll get the message to him. You cut. He's suited up so the ship's integrity might already be in peril."

"He's with Preventers. It's precautionary probably, but I'll take that into consideration."

I looked up the schematics for his little ship. I needed to know when I started cutting that I wasn't going to slice into his craft. I didn't want to add sudden decompression to his troubles.

With the dexterity of a seasoned Western cowpoke, I lassoed me a space ship using my mini arm and attached tethers. The "smart" tips homed in on the ship's toggle points, the rings for my hooks built just for this purpose, fastened onto the ship's chassis, and then signaled me when I had my man secured.

Next, I conjured up specs for the material I'd be cutting through. Even though I'd been transporting and cutting up the stuff for weeks now, I had been using a massively more powerful tool which hadn't the precision I needed now. Knowing the composition of those layers was the only way I could choose the right incising tools.

The inflatable shell of a colony structure was a spectacular innovation. Created out of about two dozen layers that get folded and compressed around the core at launch, the whole thing would then get inflated and deployed in orbit later.

First layer I'd come to would be the external thermal-protection blanket insulator. It was shiny and blinding when it caught the light, but posed no problem for cutting. Successive layers of Nextel and open cell foam made up the debris shield. Space debris and small meteorites would shatter when they hit the shield, losing energy as they penetrated the layers, but it was no sweat for my blades to rip it apart.

A structural restraint layer of woven Kevlar sandwiched the energy field. If the field were enabled and powered up, there'd be no way I could cut through it with anything but a real Gundam. But this hunk of crap wasn't attached to any power supply, so it wouldn't present a problem.

After that came air-pressure bladders made of Combitherm and the innermost layer of a fireproof Nomex, which also acts as a scuff and scratch barrier, and could be cut with a pair of scissors.

All right! That analysis took me all of 39 seconds.

I chose the biggest, baddest blade with laser targeting and started blasting. Here's where my years wielding Deathscythe's weapons really came into play. I employed many of those skills as I whipped the mechanical arm about, selecting the proper blades, and sliced and diced my way through the shroud.

I carved out the tiny ship's encased tail, letting foam core and Nomex float free around me. I ignored my debris mess and concentrated on the task at hand. I risked one quick glance at the pilot's window and thought maybe I'd spotted Heero. Good enough.

Over the com unit I heard a few "oohs and ahs," which I assumed to be exclamations of awe over my super skills, because it was followed up by a round of applause when Heero's ship broke free.

I heard the "beeps" warning me that the tether was fully loaded. I could almost feel the taut line in my own grip wanting to reel Heero in to safety, but not yet.

"Greg, got it free. I'm on my way. Condition of the smaller craft, unknown, but the com's down, tail's smashed, and the pilot's okay." I _hoped_ the pilot was still okay.

"Hanger 3 ready for WinSustain2796 towing a damaged Sprite 3400. You have priority one. Proceed with reduced speed, Maxwell."

_Like I would zip through full throttle?_ "Gotcha, Greggie."

The entry was perfect and as I eased into my berth and prepared to tighten the towline, bringing the craft close alongside, Greg's voiced startled me.

"Cut your tether! The Sprite's got power and he's parking."

"Cool," I said, breathing easier with that news. Heero was piloting his ship, captain to the end. "Thanks. I'm getting out and checking on the other pilot first, then I'll go relieve your tugs."

"Rodger, Maxwell. Seals closed. Air pressure normal in twenty."

I waited for the in-ship gauge to indicate I could enter the hanger without space gear, and then bounded out, down the catwalk, and over to where Heero's crumpled ship was docked. I saw him looking out the foggy glass and gave him a grin and thumbs up.

"Hey!"

"Hey, yourself," he said, removing his helmet.

As he climbed out of the cockpit, I caught his arm, and helped him to the floor. Looking him over, I could see that he was pale and clearly shaken, and then he was in my arms.

"Thanks." He whispered that in my ear and then kissed me. And it wasn't an arms'-length brotherly peck either. No, baby. It was filled with lots of stored passion for sure. Amid a few wolf whistles and a torrent of laughter, he let me come up for air. "Missed you."

"Yeah." I smiled at him, pointedly ignoring the voices around me, especially the one in my head that kept warning me to push him away. "Next time get your ass outta the way faster."

"Affirmative," he said with a smile. "Next time when you leave L4, call me. I'll meet you."

"You did meet me!" Heh, heh…

All's well that end's well, as they say. Sadly, I couldn't have advertised any better that day that I was an ex-Gundam pilot and flaming gay – whether or not I was. But then, after going back out and moving the gigantic hunk of L5 shit to a staging area-- for removal by me, of course, in a few weeks-- I had Heero to go home with. And that was great. We made an awesome pair.

(o)

"What's in the bag?" Heero asked. He carried in the heavier one by choice—things from my other place.

"Speakers and music. Something of mine, to share."

"Music. Yes, that would be nice. You like music, then?"

"Yep. All kinds, which you'll find out."

I offered to make us dinner, which was eggs and toast, all I felt like cooking. Heero was happy to eat whatever I made. He'd gotten a little banged up and I think terribly frightened. He called me his best friend and already said he'd missed me every hour I'd been gone. He'd thanked me for the save multiple times already and I'd hinted what might be the perfect end to our day and I think he agreed.

"Go on, shower, relax a little. I got dinner under control," I assured him.

"Thanks." He held my eyes a second then left.

I heard the water turn on and off a little later, and then he padded back into the kitchen.

I had my back to him, but I could feel the tug on my braid. "Don't ever cut this off," he told me.

"Why's that--?" I flipped the eggs in the skillet then turned around.

He wore a kimono open in front and had my braid wrapped around his dick. It looked so hot I nearly creamed my shorts right then and there.

"Okay," I said in a gasp then got control of my voice and brain enough to add, "I promise not to cut it off. And I'll keep my hair too."

His eyes bugged out and then he erupted in throaty laughter. That was hot, too, and I joined him.

"Don't stop cooking. We'll need the fuel." His voice was husky and driving me nuts.

I guess I'd run the gauntlet and passed. Duo Maxwell was getting some tonight.

I over-cooked the eggs just thinking about sex with Heero.

In a way, I was relieved that Heero and I had become good friends. He'd known what we needed. He had insisted we have a firm foundation on non-sexual grounds before anything physical happened between us. If he had let me touch him that first night, we would certainly have had sex, and maybe it would have taken up longer to get to the more meaningful stuff.

Of course, I wasn't thinking _that_ at the time. That deeper introspective stuff came later on. All I was thinking about as I scooped the rubbery eggs onto plates was "score!" All I was thinking about centered on the sex we were going to have.

He kissed me, whispering, "You saved me again. You saved my life. I trust you. I trust you with my body and my heart."

That kind of trust both excited me and, honestly, would have troubled me, but right then getting physical _fast_ overpowered everything else I was thinking. I don't remember tasting the food, eating it, or cleaning the dishes. He was freshly showered wearing a loose kimono robe in dark blue, like his eyes, and nothing else. I knew that. I thought about that a lot, which is why I wasn't paying attention to the dinner.

"Come with me," he said when the last dish was dried and put away.

He held my hand and led me. I don't think he'd ever walked while holding my hand before and I found it extremely sexy, like just about everything else. We walked to the bedroom, and for a few quiet moments we stood in front of the bed watching the play of glittering streetlights filter through the curtains. I watched his kimono fall to the floor to reveal that toned body I'd come to idolize.

"Here, I'll help you." He pulled my sweatshirt over my head, moving my braid, stretching the neck to avoid my nose, taking what felt like a meticulous amount of trouble.

But then, he crushed our bare torsos together as we kissed.

"I've been dreaming about this since you left," he said.

"Yeah," I whispered, "me, too."

"Good."

Oh, yeah, and it was good. So good. His hands ran down my back and under the elastic waistband of my sweatpants. He kneaded my ass and drew me closer. My cock was excessively hard and I could feel the steady pulse of his, trapped between us. Also trapped between us were my pants.

"Let me get rid of these," I said. The pants fell to my feet and I kicked them to the side, rotating my hips in an erotic way and dancing in place.

"God," he whispered. "Fucking exhibitionist."

His voice was barely audible across the few feet of carpeting that separated us.

"You're beautiful, the most beautiful man I've ever seen."

"I was just thinking pretty much the same thing about you," I said and I meant it.

"I've never seen you hard before."

"Oh." I climbed onto the bed and drew the covers up to my chin. "Show's over."

"Tease," he growled and quickly joined me under the light covers.

I wrapped up in him and our lips met in a deep kiss. Heero's lips left mine, traveling from my mouth and along my jaw line to swish up over my left cheek, and then lightly over my eyes. My eyelids fluttered involuntarily as his lips caressed them.

"You can't imagine how much I've wanted this."

"Yeah, I can. I've been aching for it, and you know it, asshole."

He chuckled. I think he liked being a control freak, and I didn't mind it much, but I'd had to _wait_.

"What'sup?"

"Looking at you."

He planted his elbow on a pillow and gazed down at me. Music drifted in from the living room, something soft, slow. He looked my way with a curious expression. I waved a small remote control in the air and he smiled again.

He blinked. "Music. Nice. I'm glad you're making this your home."

"I missed my tunes."

"I don't want you to miss anything while you're here."

"I wanted to inject a little romance."

"I find 'trust' romantic." He kissed my braid and rubbed his chest with it.

"I think you find my hair hot, too."

"Yes." He used the tip to tickle my chin.

"I'm ready!" I insisted.

"This time we're both ready."

_Whatever._ 'Nuff said. I let him get the last word in as he crawled over me and pressed all that hard muscled chest onto me and ground his erection into mine. As he adjusted himself, I spread my legs, lifted and locked them around his hips, and let the gentle rocking of our bodies drive us both crazy.

His tender, tentative kisses turned supercharged. I opened my mouth and his tongue darted in, skipped over my teeth, and plunged into my throat. It was so sudden I almost gagged, but resisted the need to protect myself and let him invade me as deeply as he desired.

It was as if I were drugged into submission by his touch.

I used my legs to pull his body against mine, and then released him a little, only to pull him back again. By doing so, I nudged us deeper into a rhythm of thrusting, and melding into one.

My body floated on this erotic cloud and then I was yanked back to full awareness as he brought me to the brink of orgasm.

Heero broke off and rolled to his side.

_Why had he stopped? _I wanted him in me -and now- he wasn't even on me! I wanted to give myself to him, which was a big deal since ordinarily I'd have preferred topping. "What did I do wrong?"

"Slow down, Duo. I-I can't. We need more time."

"No more time. I want you in me." I know I sounded sulky. I felt sulky.

"I know."

Maybe he misunderstood. I put my needs out there. "Fuck me, Heero."

He kissed me softly on the cheek.

"Let's take it slow," he whispered. "You may be asking for more than you can handle."

"You gotta be kidding," I muttered under my breath.

I reached down under the sheet and ran my hand over his abs, feeling his firmness, letting my fingers wander though his pubic hair. I grasped his cock and moved my hand along it, marveling at how something so hard could feel so soft. My fingers circled it, barely, and my thumb ran across the oozing tip.

I stopped and looked questioningly at him. "I saw it before, remember? In your office. It's sizable, but I can take it." Knowing what a man likes to hear, I added, "It's perfect," as I looked down at my full hand. "'Sides, I don't want you for your cock."

"Yeah?"

"Well," I grinned, "not _just_ for your cock."

He leaned over to kiss me again. Our bodies pressed together and he rolled over me again. I couldn't get over the wonderful sensation of his body on mine, the weight and substance of his muscular torso pressing into, fitting, meshing with my own body.

But I was also not ready to give up. "I _really_ want you in me." I said it again. It bore repeating.

He pulled back a little and looked deeply into my eyes. "It'll happen, Duo, but not tonight, okay?"

"Why _not_ tonight?"

"I don't want to start off hurting you. For now I just want to enjoy you."

That all sounded so hot I moaned with need. "Oh… God, 'Ro… I don't usually beg, ya know, but I've been fucked before."

"Yeah, right, by a guy with a small cock. That doesn't make you ready for me."

"How do you know about the size of Quat's dick?"

"I have superior evaluation skills. From afar."

"Uh, huh. Well, I can take it."

"I want us to start out slow. I want to share… my feelings."

_Feelings._ This had to do with all that deeper stuff related to his waiting thing. This wasn't just a guy in bed, this was a guy sharing a bed with_ me_ and offering to share _with me_ a whole hell of a lot more. I was one lucky guy, but I didn't fully appreciate what he was offering. I didn't know what to make of that at the time, more precisely. I was pretty much an opportunistic kind of guy, but being a fast learner, I was adapting. Still… I'd let him run our sex life so far, and, honestly, the little bunny Duo was tired as hell waiting for determined, turtle Heero to catch up.

"Well, I guess I won't argue with that." _I could, oh I sooo could, but I wouldn't, er… didn't._

"It's not a race."

"No?" I groaned. In my mind it kinda was. I was hurtling toward that finish line hell bent on completion.

"There's other things I can do." His voice was filled with the makings of a real workout.

Never argue with a sexy, naked man that wants to make you feel good.

He lowered his lips to mine again, kissing me gently, slowly and thoroughly, and our bodies begin to move again with a thrust against me and me rising to meet him. We were both moaning even with our mouths pressed together and our tongues deep in each other's mouth.

_Take me_, I begged with my body, despite the fact that I'd heard him say he wouldn't.

Heero had said he wanted to assure me of his feelings. I wanted him to know I wanted him too. I'd experienced some of those same emotions with Quatre, but I'd lost him and moved on. I wasn't sure what my feelings for Hilde were. It was good to have someone who desired me, but if she wanted more from me, meeting her demands would be impossible. I wanted something with Heero and he expected something from me. I decided that I was willing to be patient and shoulder whatever he wanted me to. He'd be worth waiting for. This all passed through my mind in a nanosecond.

Then pure pleasure and lights blew out any lingering rational thoughts. There wasn't any place for our sex juice to go, so it just pulsed out of us, mixing, melding, bonding.

"Oh, Duo," Heero finally moaned as he lifted his mouth from mine. "You are so—"

"Yeah," I said, reaching behind him to press my hand into the back of his head and eased him down against my shoulder. He nuzzled into my neck, his mouth still wet and hot. He moved lower, pressing into the curve of my shoulder. "You, too, babe."

"I'm worn out."

"Me too," I whispered. "Thank God we have all weekend."

"Oh, yeah," he managed to whisper. "Thanks for coming early."

"I'd say we came together! Heh, heh… Ah, don't hit! Heh, heh… I know what you meant."

"Idiot... Too tired."

I wasn't, so I had a minute to stare at him and think. I wondered if Heero had had a plan once I'd gotten here in his house, his bed. Heero always had a plan. Quat was a schemer, Heero a planner, and the rest of us kinda just reacted. So, what had been Heero's plan for us? What had made him think I'd fall for him? Oh, Quat possibly lead him on. Had he used his nasty, sneaky little "space heart" to worm its way into mine and read "Duo likes Heero" inscribed on the bloody walls of my heart? Otherwise, just because I'd fooled around with Quat didn't mean I just fall in with Heero's deeper relationship bullshit, did it? Not at all. I might have chosen the couch or found another place to live.

Then there was Heero's pretty strong start-- the car, the drive, the dinner and the desire to kiss me—that he shut down, his pursuit of me alternately running hot and cold like my faucet on L2.

Could it be that Heero was just as confused about what he wanted as I was? I sure hoped so. I didn't want to be the only clueless one.

I felt a change in the rhythm of his breathing and I knew he was asleep. I lay there for a long time, feeling his weight on me, loving it, not wanting to move, not wanting to risk waking him. He grunted and moved a little so his shoulder slid off me to my right. He lay with his face pressed into the sheets before rotating my way. Eyes shutting off that penetrating gaze and scowl gone, he looked like the young guy he really was.

I drifted off to sleep, peaceful, complete, our lower bodies cemented together with our drying sweat and come, well satiated for the time being.

**A/N: Credit the introductory song "Free Fall" to **_**In Flames**_

End, Chapter Four.

TBC


	5. Chapter 5

**Free Fall**

Summary: Duo searches for the key to happiness and love while free falling through life

Disclaimer: I don't own any part of Gundam Wing or its characters. I make no monetary profit off this story.

Warnings: AU, rated for language, yaoi pairings

**Chapter Five **

* * *

"Get your lazy ass out of bed, Maxwell. The day's wasting," Heero said.

I turned over and groaned. My legs felt like they'd been replaced by lead replicas and my head pounded as if I'd been on a bender the night before, which I hadn't. "It's our day off."

He stood by the bed holding two mugs. "Coffee."

I groaned again, but pushed myself up until my back rested against the headboard and reached out for one of the mugs. "Thanks," I croaked, my voice not quite working right. The raw feeling in my throat came from the deep-throating it had had to endure after a round of pre-dawn sex.

Heero stood there naked with a sly smile on his handsome face. His body appeared edged in gilt from the shaft of light coming through the door opening. A path of flaky white stuff ran up over his hard abs to the cleft between his pecs.

"Sleep well?" I asked as I took the mug.

"Oh, yeah. I slept like a baby; that is, until you woke me snoring about half an hour ago."

"What time is it?"

"Nine-thirty."

I looked at him again, boldly scanning his body. His eyes were a navy blue in the sunlight and could look almost black in subdued light. I marveled at his beauty and felt my body respond, wanting him.

"Why don't you get back in bed," I suggested.

"Nope." He sipped from his own mug of steaming coffee. "We're going to take a shower together."

"Why don't we just wait and shower after some…fun? We'll be all sweaty by then."

"Because," he paused, letting the implications of his threat sink in, "I want you clean when I shove my cock into you."

"Yeah, right," I bluffed, feeling my own cock respond to his words and the dominance of his tone. "You're just trying to get a rise out of me, heh, heh… as in to get me out of bed."

I had been chill about it, but actually, his tone had shocked me to complete alertness. If I had said a thing like that to Hilde, she would have accused me of being threatening and domineering, but with 'Ro and me it was all male foreplay.

I rolled out of the disheveled bed and followed him into the bathroom. Trying to snatch a bit of control of the situation, I reached into the huge glass enclosed shower and adjusted the water. Heero just twitched a smile my way and carefully laid out clean towels.

"I think the temperature is okay," I said after one more test. Yep, I was in the pilot's seat.

"I'm sure you've set it straight." He chuckled and climbed in next to me.

We shared the water standing sideways at first. He untied my braid and loosened the strands with his fingers. I grabbed a bar of soap on one pass and worked the soap between my hands.

"Here," I squirmed out of his arms and ran my soapy hands over his chest and shoulders.

"Nice." He soaped up his hands and did the same to me.

I ran my hands lower, and felt him tremble in my hands.

"Um," he said, his voice almost a sigh, "this feels …goo--," and lost the rest of what he'd been saying in a luscious moan.

"Yeah." I knelt and washed his legs and feet.

Heero shuddered when my soapy fingers ran over his ass and upwards as I straightened back up.

"Like that?" I asked, my lips against his ear so he could hear over the roar of water.

"Y-yeah."

I used the soap to slip and slide over his rippling muscles, but when I moved south he pressed me into the shower wall.

"Oh, yeah," he moaned, "oh, fuck, yeah."

His hands found mine, and we shared soap. I thought he was going to jack himself off, but then his fingers wrapped around me as his other hand wound in my hair and crushed our faces together for the hottest tongue-kiss ever.

"In me--?" I got no further than that. I'd wanted him to follow up on his "threat" to fuck me, but now he'd distracted me completely, his hands squeezing and sliding.

It was incredible. Talk about free falling from a high to an even more powerful one. My own climax hit hard, and soon after he convulsed in my hand, shouting my name. Then I was back in the big fancy shower, my body collapsed over Heero's.

"Oh, God, Duo," he whimpered, his voice little more than an echo of mine.

We finished by washing each other off, washing my hair, and then drying with his big, soft towels. I remember staggering back to bed before falling into a mid morning doze.

We woke up an hour later when my phone rang with its newest merry little tune, "Free fall… Free falling…"

"Yo," I answered.

I should have let it ring, seeing as I'd just got in and it was my weekend off. It was work. They needed me "yesterday" to slice and dice some wreckage holding up a full crew, who had been clearing space for rebuilding. A full crew sitting on their asses meant dollars going to waste. It could not wait until the day after tomorrow. _Today_. I could take the next two days off.

_Aw, shit._ "Right. 'Kay. Gimme an hour."

"Work?" Heero's downright disappointed tone nearly made me change my mind.

"Yeah. There's not all that much left to do here on L5. So when they need something done. I gotta to do it. I got the next two days off, though, in exchange."

"I'll see if I can rearrange my schedule," he said. "No promises, though."

"Cool, 'Ro. You're the best." And he was. "Stay put. Sleep. I'll take the bus and you can pick me up. I'll call you?"

"Thanks." We kissed and he rolled over then out. "But I'm fine. I'll feed you and drop you off. Might as well see what I can do at the office to deserve the days off."

Heero was the best person in the world to me, and maybe for me as well. So far, he'd made me examine my life more clearly, not changing the events, but adjusting their importance. Like, I couldn't see how anything I'd done so far counted as much as what I was doing now, including my part in the war, and everything I did now, it seemed, was going to define my future.

_Was I typical of guys my age?_ Generally, I'd been putting my immediate needs and desires before long-term goals. That seemed pretty certainly typical of the young single men I knew. In my defense, I was also adjusting to fit into this peace-time world after coming from a pretty messed up background.

_What else?_ I took my job seriously and there, at least, I had my priorities in order. That came from growing up fast in a war. I also took Heero seriously; Hilde didn't count 'cause she was in like another universe.

_Was I a good person?_ Apart from my Shinigami fighting state during the war, I tried to be sensitive to others and I don't think I was ever intentionally cruel. I was capable of thoughtlessness, but I was never evil.

I knew my success at Winner Corp was important but I had no solid idea of what I really wanted to do with my life, especially when my life was split into two worlds, literally, that intersected at me.

All these thoughts rattled around in my brain as I walked toward my ship in the hangar. My mind started to fog over and I couldn't keep from thinking about all the "What if's?" What if Trowa had not liked Quatre? What if Quatre and I had stayed together, shared a room, and continued our relationship? What if I stayed on L4 with Hilde and married her? What if it had been Wufei and not Heero on the other side of that door? What if Heero hadn't been gay?

The fog in my brain never lifted. I'd had too little sleep, I guessed. All I could manage was to get through the rest of the day on nervous energy-- complete my job, call Heero to pick me up and also buy groceries on the way home, cook dinner, look forward to more Heero in bed right where we left off.

At five, when I came off the launch area, Heero there waiting-- a step ahead of me!

"Nice surprise. I was thinking 'bout you."

"You look like hell," he said in greeting.

I nodded my concurrence, not knowing if he meant my appearance or my performance during the rough landing. "Thanks," I said. "I feel like shit."

"Well, some shit looks better than other shit, and you look like shit from hell," he grinned as we headed for his car.

"Tell me we are getting together tonight."

"We're getting together tonight," he replied.

"If we don't, I'm going to become committable crazy." I collapsed into the passenger seat and tossed him the keys.

He stared at the keys jangling in his hand, probably thinking I was worse off than I'd admitted for giving up the chance to drive his hot car. "But it'll be late, as in LATE, tonight."

"Ugh…" I groaned.

"In order to take off the next two days, one being a busy workday for me, I have to finish some paperwork tonight. Larry from the agency dropped me off so I could meet you up in person and leave you with the car before going back. He's on dinner break now, then goes back. He'll give me a ride home."

"Nice of him. What about our dinner?" I bit back any questions about this Larry dude that 'Ro never'd mentioned before.

"There's lasagna in the refrigerator. You can eat when you want or wait until I get home."

"Before midnight then?"

"I'll do my best," he promised.

"Okay."

Heero's best was damned good. His structured life provided for plenty of free time; his home management skills kept the place clean with a minimal effort; and he put together food servings so large they had a gravitational pull.

And I'd already nearly forgotten about Larry.

(o)

I had no idea what time Heero made it home or how terrific his lasagna turned out; I'd showered and conked out on the bed, free falling without eating.

When I woke up I felt like I'd been worked over by Wing Gundam, and not in any good way you might imagine.

My attempt to sit up landed me flat on my back and in need of a few hours more rest until I thought to attempt that bold move again.

When I did finally sit up, it was with Heero's help and a seriously worried look on his face. "I thought you were just worn out so I left you a note to call me at work. Here, drink this."

I drank automatically, gulping like a fish.

"Note?"

"You were asleep when I got home last night and I was called in for an emergency this morning. I left a note, which you obviously haven't seen yet."

"It's morning?"

"It's lunchtime." His eyes gave me a critical examination and then I felt the icy hand of death on my forehead.

"Shit, you're burning up."

He yanked off the blankets and the sudden shill sent me into the tremors so hard I sloshed the water he'd brought me. I think the water that fell went up in steam.

"You're sick."

"Nu-uh." I wasn't sick. I couldn't be sick. What was sick? I was tough. I was… asleep before I had my argument out of my mouth and way before I'd formulated it in my head.

Heero refused to move me and must have held a gun to the head of the doctor he conscripted to make a house call, because next thing I knew I was being roused to meet the stranger hovering over me. I didn't hear his name so I called him "G" for short, as in "Ah, gee…"

He had some clever little devices that took body fluid samples and tested them instantly and nailed down my ailment from a universe of possible maladies.

The doctor's verdict almost cut through my groggy-headedness. "You have blah, blah, blah," which I couldn't make sense of so translated as "garbage fever", "and will have to remain in this apartment for two weeks. The both of you."

Heero disagreed. Not to call him a flamboyant gay man, but he really could pull a hissy fit when he was riled.

"Call a friend to deliver food. Call work to explain your absences. Call another doctor after this, but don't call me!"

He slapped a handmade but very official-looking sign on the door on his way out.

**Contagious Disease! **

**Absolute isolation and quarantine in effect!**

To give the good doc credit, he sent a shit-load of prescription drugs and instructions over by robo-carrier.

An hour later, an officer stopped by and applied a force-field lock to the outside door.

"Have your deliveries made through official channels. Here's the number to call."

This was transmitted to a spitting mad Heero through the door, to explain the terseness.

Another officer called to question Heero and me about every man, woman, and child we'd encountered in the last 24 hours. Poor shits. I hoped none of them would be getting the quarantine treatment on account of me, or I'd get booted off the colony big time.

Me. Oh, it was all about me. Apparently the salvage I'd gotten into was from the medical containment unit of L5. My ship was supposed to have been thoroughly de-contaminated, but apparently I missed a spot, touched it—how? God only knows, and blasto, the little buggers loved me. I was probably the first good thing and the only living thing to come by in twenty years.

Lucky me.

Us.

Heero never got the bug, but he suffered along with me every ugly step of the way. The oozing sores were pretty spectacular. I had to share those with all my buddies via vid-phone. Grossed them all out.

Heero slept on the couch. I discovered that there were limits to love, not that I blamed him. I would have done the same and slept out on the couch too had our roles been reversed.

For a week, none of the cooking or the chores were done by me. Our tidy schedule was tossed. We spent a lot of time getting on one another's nerves until Heero ordered a TV delivery to entertain me while he sat hunched over his laptop filling out forms; at least, that's what it looked like.

Quatre was an unanticipated, by me, gem in the crap pile of events. He arranged for our daily food delivery, a specialist to check on our progress, and my ship to be cleaned properly.

The entire hanger required sterilization and the hulking detritus I'd been toting around, the infective garbage, was jettisoned into a star, somewhere far away. He did this at a cost to his company, absorbing the loss and assuming the guilt for equipment failure like a prince.

He even saw to it that all my expenses were paid for, which was a good thing because Heero's weren't. He lost two weeks wages and his supervisor was madder than hell over the screw up to his schedule—her schedule—resulting in his being assigned a shitload of paperwork, filing, and boring cleanup tasks to do, This explained the grueling laptop work, I guessed.

On the plus side, by the second week Heero and I were actually talking deep talks. Without sex to get in the way, we learned "to communicate comprehensively in a verbal process"—his words, obviously, not mine.

He could say the most endearing, heartfelt things, too.

"I can't get over having you around." Heero smiled as he said that.

"I can't get over you wanting _me_ around, I mean, when you've had the choice. And now, taking care of me? Man, the only other person I can recall ever taking care of me was Sister Helen."

Heero knew that old story, but it gave us a chance to re-visit our pasts and let us marvel over how we'd been and how we'd seen the others "back then."

"Winner didn't belong in a war," Heero said. "Not as a fighter, but after he encountered the Zero system and began giving orders, I was impressed."

"Yeah, Quat didn't do too badly for himself. He was probably the most lethal of all of us, blowing up colonies and all. Having a whole team of men, those Maguanacs, answering to him impressed me."

"Not his wealth?"

"Oh, yeah. That was like a fairytale. I don't think it really sunk in for the longest time how rich he was—or important."

"He was very modest."

"Unlike Wufei Chang," I said. "That tight-ass just never got me at all, but he let me know he didn't approve no matter what I did."

"You may think that, but you posed quite the quandary to him."

"Oh yeah? How to fit his ego and me in the same room? Or was it how my braid out grew his by several feet?"

Heero smiled and chuckled. My sores were healing, but one at the edge of my mouth still oozed when I smiled too much.

"As a kid I think I wondered was how you managed to get as far in life as he did all on your own, but the other day he commented on how it was I was so lucky to have connected with you again, and win you."

_Win_ me, sure. "Some prize I am now. Naw, I know, we're good together. Both winners, uh, so to speak."

We laughed a little over that _faux pas_.

"Trowa intimidated me at times," he admitted. "He had stone-cold hard mercenary killer down very well, for a kid."

He also took Quatre away from me. That's the first thing his name conjured up in my brain, but I didn't share that with Heero, even though it didn't hurt so much to think about that time in my life—which was actually only a few months ago. "I thought he was a bit of a jerk, personally."

"He saved my life," Heero went on to say.

"That really messed me up."

"Saving my life?"

"No, the gaping-ass hole you blew in my chest when you did that—blew yourself up! Well, and that it was him that found you and took care of you—and not me."

"He had a safe place to hide me while I convalesced."

I might have had an answer for that, too, but I'd left it behind to listen to what Heero had to say. Great concept: listen and not talk stupid.

"My whole notion of him changed just before I'd recovered enough to leave the circus. He was showing a little girl a nest of pheasant chicks he'd found."

"Bet he found it hard to look aloof and tough holding a nest of baby birds."

Heero smiled. "It was, but it was what he said that got to me. See, the mother bird had been shot and it was Trowa who'd hauled the nest back to the circus. He told this little girl that they'd be fine because a hen, who'd lost her eggs to someone's dinner, had already taken them under her wing. The little girl wondered about that, since they weren't the same bird. He told her, and I remember how sincere he sounded, that it didn't matter to the mother bird who'd bred them or where they'd come from. They just needed her and her them and love filled in all the cracks."

I was impressed. "Trowa said that?"

"He did, and I finally saw through that blank veneer of his to his heart and understood how he felt about Winner, too. It applied to him and Quatre—"

"Yeah, I get that part."

"Are you happy?" he asked me. "Is this working out for you okay? Living here? With me?"

"You have to ask?" I said. "Do I complain that much?"

"No. It's just that I want you to feel like this is your home, but then you leave, so how can you not feel like you're my guest?"

But that's what I was. It had to be that way because we only had this bit of time together.

"At the very start, I was really trying not to disturb anything."

Heero laughed his ass off over that. "You turned my life and everything in it upside down."

"That's not how I remember it. I copied how you folded my damned clothes --," and my damned voice hitched about then, giving away how much that little act had signified.

But then his voice clouded up a bit too, so I guess he was getting pretty emotional as well. "I really like your company. More than anything, I want you around."

"Is that so?" I chuckled a little to let on that I was joking here. With Heero, I never was exactly positive about how he'd take something, so I warned him, tossed in a few clues here and there. "You trust me not to take you out in the night?"

"Only on a date." He said that straight-faced. A count of three and he smiled fractionally. "I trust you, yes."

Eventually, the scrap of L5 would be gone or it would be time for Heero to trade back with Wufei. Then it would be over. He didn't have to say it; the truth just hung in the air between us.

That's when I knew what I wanted for the future; for a moment in time, it was clear.

"I don't want us to be over when the jobs are," I said.

"We won't be. I won't lose you over some job."

I nodded, though I didn't know just then how we'd solve that particular problem. But then I was just getting my footing, and avoiding that familiar free falling into the next episode of my life's drama.

I know there at the start I'da recognized exactly what to do if Heero had wanted a quick fling, but he'd insisted on us taking it slow and getting to know one another. I was game. I kept fumbling with the "something more" I could sense tell Heero wanted and learning along the way how to combine my inexperience with emotions and experience with sex into something akin to what Heero was trying to express to me in his words.

(o)

Miracle of miracles, by the end of the two weeks, I got well. I was nearly as hearty and hale as I'd been before the bug got a hold of me. Gone was garbage fever and gone was Heero, who had to return to work the instant the quarantine was lifted—his commander's orders.

I stayed home another couple days until I was released back into space duty. I tried to make up for all the lolling about I'd done and work I'd caused 'Ro by cleaning and doing laundry and fixing meals. And that's how I discovered another way to pair up socks and store them away which was faster and neater and so they took up less space.

Heero noticed right away.

"Did you throw out some socks? They all fit in the drawer. No, you rolled them."

"You can see them better and it's faster putting them away."

"Hn. Good. The pasta sauce looks lumpier."

"I helped schlep old produce from the market to the church and they told me to pick anything out I wanted, so I got an eggplant. Hope it's okay cooked like that."

Throwing caution to the wind, Heero tasted the new sauce and smiled. "Passes inspection."

I musta made too much of holding my breath over that, because he moved to embrace me and give me all kinds of nice reassuring kisses. "It's okay, you know," he whispered into my ear during a breathing break. "I don't mind. You're not necessarily 'fighting back' when you make few suggestions."

"Well, you just do things so well thought out."

He sniffed. "I'm not the perfect housekeeper, Duo. I'd never even heard of discount stores, so I have some things to learn from you, too."

And that admission made me feel better than anything else he could have said. Getting along wasn't just about doing whatever it took to make 'Ro happy, it was about balancing both our needs.

"I can survive anything you attempt."

That got a laugh out of me. "You survive my intrusive offence, while I thrive on your gracious defense."

"I can be intrusive and break down your defenses."

_I had defenses when it came to him? Don't make me laugh…but that seductive growl of his? Oooh, a bit of that free falling feeling!_ I gawked at him. _Did he mean what I thought?_ Because I was pretty damn sure we were talking about sex and not sports or relationships. "Prove it."

(o)

I'd always let others make the first moves, but now with Heero I couldn't even remember which of us was making the important moves. It didn't matter, except that this time he wasn't all talk.

"Okay, before or after dinner?"

"Here," I groaned as his smile widened, "and now." _Before you have a change of heart_.

Still grinning, Heero unzipped his slacks, right there in the kitchen with the bubbling pasta dish, and stroked his cock—until it swelled all wild, hard, and pulsing and standing out at right angle from his body, as straight as an arrow. The head was swollen to its maximum size, a huge club of a thing, oozing and frightening.

"God." There was nothing else I could call it.

Then, in one fluid motion, he had me over the table, yanking my jeans past my ankles, and pressing apart my legs with both thighs. Don't ask about the pasta. It went flying. "You drive me crazy, Duo."

"Yeah." Bet not as crazy as you make me.

He leaned forward and lowered his lips to mine. His kiss was tender but firm, his lips closed against my gaping mouth. He could have fucked his tongue deep into my throat but he made no attempt to do so.

"This is going to hurt." He rolled a tube of lube between his palms to warm it up. How thoughtful.

"Yeah," I said, looking again at the huge angry head of his cock.

"I don't want to. I don't want to see you in pain."

"Yeah," I said, not entirely convinced. He might not get pleasure from seeing me suffer, but I couldn't help feeling he got a lot of pleasure out of the act of domination. And maybe, just maybe, he needed that to get over what had happened to him.

"It's just something to get past," he went on, his voice low and reassuring. "After I've fucked you a few times you'll be able to take my cock without it hurting. Then we can both enjoy it more."

"Yeah," I whispered again. "Jesus, I'm no pussy, 'Ro. I'm tough." I just wanted him to do it. I knew it wasn't going to be easy and I knew it would hurt, but I wanted him in me.

"I know you are, but…Okay then."

Plop!

He sprinkled me with warm spaghetti noodles.

"AH!"

He slurped one off my belly, licking sauce off my skin with his tongue. _What had happened to my anal-retentive, compulsive-cleaner?_

Next thing, I felt a hand grasping a leg as he eased a finger inside me.

I moaned as he worked it in.

I moaned again as I felt my ass relax.

I don't know if I ever stopped making noise.

I drifted, feeling lighter than air, up up up into the atmosphere. I'd felt that sensation before when Quatre had worked his fingers into me. I almost dozed. I felt disembodied. More fingers entered and stretched and stretched and massaged. Lips sucked and pasta slithered across my chest. I was humming a soft, gentle, contented sound that came from deep in my chest.

"Okay? Feeling good?"

"Uh, huh." I opened my eyes and looked directly into his. His lips curved in a gentle, caring smile and then he nudged at my opening with an elephant.

Well, not really, but it felt like one.

It took a while to fit.

It wasn't all wonderful. My body ached and convulsed against his entry, but he knew when to stop, to wait, and when he could at last move.

Eventually, I wrapped my arms around him and we moved slowly, gently, in a peaceful rhythm, which was full of affection and tenderness.

"Too good," he gasped. "Too good." His body pulsed and I knew he was pouring his life into mine, filling me with his love.

"Yes," he whispered, "yes."

I felt my own body respond, felt my own scalding substance shoot between us, pressed into the hot, damp, confined space between his belly and mine.

"Uh, huh, yeah, babe, but next time's on the bed where it's softer."

"Yes," he agreed.

Freshly fucked described me to a tee. I couldn't walk or eat afterwards, but that was okay. Heero had had his supper, he claimed, and I got to soak in a long hot shower and languish in bed while Heero Yuy caressed and pampered me.

Once, he might have been the perfect soldier, but guess what he said I was?

Yeah.

_His_.

(o)

The next day he introduced me to his gym where we could work off a lot of excess male energy while my battered ass rested.

I kept a sideways eye on him, admiring his physic. I'd certainly seen him naked enough that there wasn't anything new to learn, but I loved watching his muscles move.

He caught me looking at him and winked.

He caught me at it again and strode over to my weight machine and lean in. "Checking me out, mister?"

God, I loved him being all domineering, even while a part of me resented it. Balancing along that fine line brought me to ecstasy.

"Yeah, right," I sorta barked out a laugh with my brain gone sluggish with sex thoughts. But he was so close I could smell his sweat. I just stared openly at him until his eyes raked over me and he blushed.

We were both in good shape, actually really great shape, me from working, but the extra weight training had matured his body to a hard, honed definition which I admired and now sought to obtain for myself.

He cleared his throat a couple times first before asking, "You just going to stand there checking me out, or can we go shower and do our shopping?"

"Let's go shopping," I grinned. "I'll have time to check you out later."

"Pervert," he said under his breath as we headed for our lockers.

"Maybe, but I'm your pervert, so what do you think that makes you, babe?"

"Your depraved adorer?"

"That will do."

Life was so good. I had never been happier.

Nothing was ever perfect, but life with Heero was close. I mean, maybe it had even been good for us not to be together all the time during these first few months of getting to know one another. The time we had was precious and we made the most of it as we learned about each other.

And I mean we learned more than just what sex the other liked the most, though we got better at the mechanics of that too. But we also learned how to avoid annoying one another and to please in other ways. Things like the little subtleties of emotion and personality, what we were keen on or found objectionable, the ways I could unintentionally push the wrong button and spark Heero's sudden anger and the ways he could unintentionally send me into a mood of gloom and dejection. Our special friendship grew into something bigger and a whole lot different from casual sex. I guess that's obvious to most folks, but as I became more and more involved with Heero, I learned that for the first time in my life.

As he shared new stories about his past, his childhood, and his time up to entering the war, his personality became understandable to me. From the beginning it was clear that Heero was a very competitive and focused guy. He was competitive at work and he was certainly competitive in sex. But behind the aggressiveness, I found and treasured a sensitive, affectionate guy.

He must have made his own discoveries about me along the way, though I kept my other life on L4 well tucked inside a mental strongbox marked "keep away."

Other than that, we were learning each other, physically, sexually, emotionally, and I loved it. The worst now was having to part from Heero. The thought of being separated and not having sex with him made me a little crazy. He told me the same thing.

"Call me."

"'Ro, that won't do any good."

"Yes it will. Just to hear your voice. Please."

"I'll try. No promises. Things just get…busy, but I'll try."

It had been two months or so since I'd shown up on Heero's doorstep seeking a roommate. Two months, which had changed me in ways I hadn't considered and some I had. I very much wanted to forget L4 and stay with Heero, but I had promises to keep, tonnage to freight, and others counting on me.

Even though I had stretched my stay on L5 for an additional week due to my illness, the last day arrived. We steeled ourselves for that inevitable two-week separation looming in the future.

Little did I know how stupid I could be, but I always had a way of being an extraordinary ass when least expected. This time bad karma crept up on me when I least expected it.

End, Chapter Five.

TBC


	6. Chapter 6

**Free Fall**

Summary: Duo searches for the key to happiness and love while free falling through life

Disclaimer: I don't own any part of Gundam Wing or its characters. I make no monetary profit off this story.

Warnings: AU, rated for language, yaoi pairings

A/N: I apologize for another long chapter

**Chapter Six**

* * *

Nothing remarkable happened on L4. I even managed to shave off a couple days and return to L5 early. On the ride back I did my mental transitioning, trading one blue-eyed brunet for another. I got to thinking about things.

I wondered why Heero invited me to move right into his one bedroom apartment, when he had wanted to take things slowly at the beginning. In some ways, wouldn't it have been easier on him to live separately and just date? It had been convenient for me to have a roomie who was a familiar face, but, hell, moving in was very full on and very frustrating at the same time. Quatre had made the arrangements—I couldn't forget that. What had Quat's angle been and how had he convinced Heero to go along with it?

Did I want to know? Probably not, but still, I did wonder.

And when I showed up, Heero was especially solicitous. He made a point of getting home on time and bringing less and less paperwork home. We worked out at the gym and watched movies when we weren't keeping house, eating, sleeping or having sex, wonderful sex.

It was after one of our strenuous romps in bed that Heero began another of his heart-to-hearts. The conversation started out rather tame, but then came about and hit me like an artillery tank full out.

"I think you know this is a real commitment for me." Heero's voice was very low, almost a whisper.

"By 'this' you mean my living here with you? I'm getting that message."

"Good, you're supposed to, but there's more to it than just living arrangements, you know. Are you okay with that? I mean, do you really want to make that kind of commitment?"

"I-I guess. Um, actually, I'm gonna need you to spell it out clear-like 'cause I'm not sure what that is exactly. Ah, geez, 'Ro, just tell me straight out. What do you have in mind?"

He retreated a little, his eyes piercing mine with a blue-ray intensity that could fry my brain. "How about faithful? I think that's important."

I leaned over and kissed him softly, just as he'd kissed me a moment before. "Like exclusive? Even when I'm on L4 and not here?"

"Yes, is that a problem for you?" he asked, and I could feel angst radiating off him.

"Kinda. You know, I'm not here all the time and when I'm on L4 I have, like, another life." The prickling unease I felt was totally unpleasant. I did not want to broach this subject with him.

But he pushed, "Can you tell me about it?"

"Can I, or will I?"

"Will you… would you?"

I didn't want to, but I saw no slick way out.

"Duo?" Now I heard panic in his voice.

_What kind of scenario was he devising in that brain of his? _ I decided I might as well tell all. 'cause if I didn't then it would like I was intentionally hiding something to be ashamed of. And I hadn't been hiding what was going on on L4. Just partitioning off my two lives.

"Sure, I guess so. It's not like some big secret or anything, but I just have kept these two parts of my life separate." His stare did not let up. "So, ah, I live alone, like I said. Hilde and I were assigned side-by-side rooms when we began at the job. Next door neighbors."

"But you two were already friends."

"Yeah, we really hit it off. We hung out, watched movies." All true.

"More?"

"Um, yeah. Listen, it's a long ways off--"

"Lovers?"

"Yeah, we fool around. When she wanted it to become physical, I let it happen."

"So Hilde started it, your physical relationship, I mean."

"Yeah, she started, or at least she asked me if I would do the dirty."

"And you said yes."

"Yeah, I was curious, I guess. I'd never done it with a girl and that's how humans are designed to work, you know? I was also very depressed over losing… to Trowa, and frustrated."

"Sexually."

"Yes, sexually-- psychologically. Hilde offered me the affection I needed at the time."

"At the time? But if it went on, you must have wanted it to continue." Heero didn't miss a trick.

"I guess I really cared for her and I wanted what we were doing together to go on. I didn't want to end it."

"So it's lasted, what, a month?"

"Or so."

He looked down, diverting his eyes from mine. "And now? Is it still going on?"

"Yeah, kinda, though, not so much."

"Are you and Hilde…serious?"

"No!" I could be emphatic about that. "It's just stress relief, really. A-And so you know, it's just with her and you're absolutely the only guy in my life." From the look on his face, I decided he needed to hear me say that last part.

"But--"

"But—what?"

"Why didn't you just tell me before?"

_Why, why, why?_ "Remember that feeling in space, free falling one second and then gravity would kick in a second and then back to free falling—all in about a second?"

"Yeah. Like a double-punch to the midsection."

"Well, that's how I feel a lot of the time. I'm just hanging happy and then the ground beneath my feet disappears and I'm sunk." My hands clamped down on his shoulders, feeling the firm, solidness of Heero. "Ground me, 'Ro."

But he turned away, shirking my hold.

"I can't do that Duo, not right now. I think this time you should go back to L4 early."

"Early? I don't want to go back _at all_. I mean I have to, but…"

"Today, I mean."

"_Today?_ You can't mean that!"

"I thought we had something really special, Duo, just you and me, but now I find out I was just a fling while you had this other life, practically a wife back on L4."

"It wasn't like that-- _isn't_ like that! I told you, she's not my wife, just a friend with benefits, like."

"Then what does that make me?"

My answer stuck in my throat. Nothing sounded good right now.

"I trusted you enough to want a commitment, and if you can't give me that then we can't go on like this. So, go back to L4 and think about… everything."

"You're breaking up with me?"

"Yes. I won't be the other man in your life. If I'm not enough, if I alone can't make you happy, then… we are over. Think about it."

He didn't return from work that evening.

I couldn't stand the thought of sleeping alone with him avoiding me, so I did what he'd asked. I headed off to the port and arranged for transport back to L4. A whole week early!

It was awful.

(o)

"Duo?"

"Ah, geez." I was going to have to change the lock on my door and not give out the key. And, shit, that wasn't the first time I'd thought the same exact thing, and still done nothing. "Hil, I'm sleeping, or trying to—"

"So glad you got back early."

Not me. Not by choice.

"Saw your name on "incoming". You coulda called and I'da picked you up…gone for dinner…something."

"Didn't wanna bother… tired."

"Oh, let's not fight about it. All that matters is that you're back early to see me. Miss me, huh?"

"Ah, yeah, babe. C'mere."

So, yeah. Back on L4, my life just settled back into its rather predictable pattern, though, as the hours passed, I longed to be back on L5.

Well, to be precise, I longed to be with Heero. The only way that was going to happen was if I came clean with Hilde, broke that off, and went crawling back to him, begging for forgiveness. That was gonna be damned hard and there was no guarantee that he would take me back.

Perhaps Quatre had done me an unintentional favor. His unexpected sexual advances and my easy capitulation had gotten me into sex, good sex, and then his dropping me like he did forced me to start over. The hurt hadn't gone deep and I got over it rather fast, 'course, I'd been a kid, and, well, not _all _that hurt, and I'd had both Hilde and Heero to hold.

Now I was older and facing a dilemma.

Hilde and I were involved in a sort of mating dance and then there was my kind of sexual tourism involving Heero as well. I wanted what came to a scaled-down version of a "mate in every port", not that I was shuttling off to partake in exotic, erotic smorgasbords for a price, I had limited myself to just the two—Hilde and Heero.

Hilde knew nothing about Heero and I didn't think she'd much care. I figured she was satisfied with things as they were, didn't expect me to be faithful when I was gone to L5, and didn't even want to know – I mean, she never asked so she didn't care, right?

It was possible that I was wrong about that, since I had been oh-so-wrong about Heero's expectations.

When it came to Heero, I'd made no clean cut from Hilde and he'd expected me to. That was stopping him and me from moving our relationship forward—even continuing our friendship!

He demanded complete faithfulness, and on L5 I _was_ his all his. It'd never occurred to me to extend that to _when we were colonies apart__._

What did all this tell me about myself?

Well, I wasn't the hot stuff I thought I was. I had to admit to my own stupidity. The universe didn't operate to benefit me and only me. Others had feelings and needs, too, and they didn't often conform to the same rules as mine, apparently.

Now, to make things right I'd have to bend my notions. I had to admit that I wanted a relationship, that I couldn't have everything my way, and that I had made a huge mess of things with Heero.

Lying there in the dark night cycle of the L4 colony, trying to be quiet in my confusion so I wouldn't wake Hilde again, my thoughts kept circling back to Heero on L5, wondering if he was the person I could love with my whole heart.

The answer ricocheted around my head, always coming back "yes." Sometimes it shot back "Yes, you idiot!"

And the more I thought about it long enough and well enough, the answer became entrenched. I knew with unshakable surety that I wanted a relationship with Heero, which made my encounters with Hilde now seem all the more absurd. It was contrary to everything I wanted for myself.

I decided that the first thing I'd do in the morning would be to ask for my key back and tell Hilde not to come in unannounced. It would be a start.

Then it was morning and time to face the consequences of my crazy thought processes-- talk about the sickening "thunk" feeling you get after free falling.

"Duo, why are you staring at me that way?"

"What way? I'm just looking."

"No, you're looking with the intent to kill. I recognize your Shinigami face when I see it."

"Oh, I wasn't doing in on purpose; I was just thinking."

"So? Spit out what you're thinking."

"Okay. I want my key back."

"Your key? You mean the key to this apartment? Why?"

Ah, shit. "Privacy. Whatever! It doesn't matter why, I just want it back so I can control who goes in and out, okay?"

"You think I parade other people through this place when you're not here?"

"No, no, no… Hil."

"Then it's all so you can control my coming in, you mean. You have someone else you wanna bring in here?"

"No! You know I'm never _with_ anyone. It's not like that." But, of course, it would be. I thought I'd just do this in stages.

"Here's your damn key, then. I don't get you, Duo Maxwell. You give me your key, fix up the place nice to impress me, rush back to see me. It's like you were thinking serious about us, and then you up and take back the key. I don't get you. Not. At. All. Without me around, you'll get pretty lonely, you know. And I never ask you for much. Maybe that's the problem? I should make a few demands so you know what I expect? Well, here's something to consider. If you want bed rights, you might box up one of your precious keys and put it on a very special kind of ring, if you get my drift?"

This was all said in a single breath before slamming the door on her way out.

"Lock up?" I suggested hopefully to no effect; in fact, the door bounced open. I found a stray cat sleeping on my couch an hour later when I got up. Another fine mess I'd gotten into.

(o)

I'd put in a long day at the L4 scrap mill and was about to time out on the clock, chewing the fat with the other guys hanging out, when the Dave, freshly promoted to office manager, shouted to me.

"Maxwell, it's some laaa-deee, for you."

"Oooh, Maxie's got another sweetheart," Stevie, teased.

"Oooh, Maxie!" hooted Carl, another scrapper.

They all knew about Hilde, of course, that she was "my girl," but that we'd had a fight. No secrets at the scrap yard.

"Hello?" It was actually Quatre's secretary.

"Please hold." She'd put me on hold while getting Quatre.

"Yeah, baby." I decided to play a joke on the guys listening in. "Missed ya like crazy. Um, yeah, I'd like that. How short's that dress you say? Oh, baby. Now I can't wait to see ya. Love ya, sweetheart."

Among men, especially young men on an isolated satellite mostly concerned about their image and not too sure about their sexuality, women or the attraction of women was the mark of masculinity.

How odd that I, who knew I liked both men and women, I who was certain of my own sexuality in a way they were not, was given a kind of approval because I allowed myself to be heard talking on a public telephone to a young woman light years away. They had heard me tell "my girl" in vivid terms of my adoration. For the moment, in their eyes, I was approved, I was certified straight; I was one of them.

But I was not. Didn't matter, though. It gave me a little ego boost, which I actually craved at the time, but what I wanted was for them to leave me alone with my call.

The ruse worked to chill their interest and they all smiled and moved off to leave me to my privacy. I heard Quatre's voice on the line and turned my back on their receding backs.

"Duo! Where are you?"

"Here. L4. Work. Soooo, what's up?"

"I'm getting married."

"You are?"

"Yes!"

"So, who's the lucky girl?"

"Trowa, silly! We can marry on the colonies. So, what do you think?"

"That's terrific, Quat. You sound happy."

"Deliriously. Say, how about I come see you."

"Place is small, you know."

"Just me. Trowa's tied up, so to speak. Friday, okay? Like old times. I haven't seen you in ages and I want to know all about what you're doing."

"Friday? Oh, cool. That's fine. Yeah. I'll see you Friday. And Quat? Congrats, really."

I walked the short distance to my apartment, envisioning Trowa trussed like a chicken over a bed—of coals, bwahaha-- and went on up to my room. I pulled off shoes and socks, yanked my t-shirt off over my head and crashed.

Lying on my bed, looking up at the slowly darkening ceiling, I was overcome again by a sense of loss. My world seemed to be closing in around me and I didn't know what to do. I wanted to reach out to someone but had no idea who that could be. It was Heero, of course, to whom my thoughts went most of all, but how could I call him when he was the main reason for the dark gloom which hung over me?

I tried to reason with myself. Stupid. It made me think about my past, current, and future "endings".

I had sure missed the boat where Hilde'd been concerned. So she'd wanted a commitment too? Geez. I got the ring hint clear as a bell. Had Quatre already told her he was getting married and put that bug in her ear? Fuck, that good thing with her had been blown to hell. I'd have to tell her I wasn't gonna marry her. End of that.

I hated sour endings, and in this case, one ending followed another.

Even if Quatre had not decided to dump me for Trowa, he and I would have gone our separate ways within a few weeks at most. I wasn't mansion material. Not office, either, or whatever Trowa was willing to become to tie Quatre to him. I was also sure that Quatre's decision had been best for him. It seemed so, considering what he'd said about his desire for the circus boy. I'd had my chance with Quat and I hadn't measured up, that was for sure. It had to end and it did.

The reasons were good. They made sense, but logical rationale had no affect whatsoever on my dark mood.

Quatre was planning to spend the night with me Friday and I was not at all sure how to handle that. If he made any move toward having sex I was sure I would not have the strength to resist, but I kept thinking that on the relative eve of his wedding announcement, sex with me was probably not what he had in mind.

Heero expected faithfulness from me, which meant I'd have to turn Quatre away completely, should he go seductive. Quat wouldn't like that. How would I avoid a fuss? Ugh… Did I respect Heero's feelings enough to say "no", if asked, and send Quat to my couch?

Maybe I should suggest Quat sleep at Hilde's, not that she was talking to me right now? Besides, wouldn't he think it was odd, considering how many nights he'd spent with me in the past? Oh, and I didn't want to sleep with Hilde so he could have her place—if she would even consider sharing a bed with me again.

I hated dilemmas.

And I knew I shouldn't even be suffering from indecision. Heero told me what he expected. I should just be strong and say no to them all!

I hated dilemmas.

(o)

"Oh, and Hilde's on the night shift tonight. She won't be…ah…popping in."

"Quat, I can't believe you arranged that. You did, didn't you? Just so we'd have no interruptions!"

"Duo! You can't think I have the time or inclination to micro-manage your schedules to that degree!"

"Well, maybe not the time--."

"I'll have you know I checked her schedule in order to include her in this visit."

"Okay, okay! Sorry for the insinuation, or whatever."

"I don't know…."

Good idea. "I am sorry, Quat."

"Oh, Duo, I know you are. Let's just forget this whole beginning and start over, okay? My, but your place looks … clean. Give me the tour."

The tour ended with us naked in bed. I forget how, but it was all good at the time. His last fling. That's what my role model said. Bad me. On the good side, it helped me put all my relationships into perspective. Again, but this time with different results.

By late Friday evening I knew without a doubt that the feelings I had for Heero were entirely different from those I had ever had for Quatre.

Quatre was the first person I'd really loved beyond the brotherly sort of feeling, and he would always have a unique place in my heart, but that was that. The sex, well, frankly, after 'Ro, anyone would pale in comparison. One highlight of our romp came from my workouts. The gym time had proved valuable, toning me enough for topping Quat and holding him down, which was a perk.

And topping Trowa's fiancé made me feel pretty damn great.

I knew I loved Hilde as well, but there, too, it was different, distinctive. What I felt for her had grown platonic with time, the sex dwindling in importance and, honestly, losing interest for me. I had a protective affection for her, which had lasted ever since our days on L2 during the war.

I'd come to know both Quatre and Hilde well, I thought. I knew their quirks, their strengths and weaknesses and moods. I could tell within a moment of her answering the phone how Hilde was feeling and how her day had gone. I could see Quatre across the room, hanger, or office and know if he was happy, sad, aggressive, passive or horny.

Heero stood alone. He always remained, on some level, a mystery to me, like the inside of my own heart. I loved mysteries, watching the clues unfold over time, delving deeper for clues, learning everything I could about him, and anticipating someday completely solving the enigma "who is Heero Yuy?"

"You really are a lot less fun than you used to be." Quatre was actually joking with me as he dressed to go back to Trowa and his executive suite condo with a view of the artificial park.

"Heero doesn't think so." _He __**didn't**__, anyway._

"Really? I'm so happy for you, then. I had hopes that you two would hit it off some time."

"Did you?" Naturally he did, since Quat had arranged our living arrangements, but I had let bygones be bygones and dropped that issue between us. It had worked out for the best after all, or it _**had**_.

"Yes." He embraced me tightly. "I'll always love you, Duo. It brings me joy to see you so happy."

Was I happy? Quatre was sure upbeat.

"I wasn't sure if it would be Hilde or Heero who'd win your heart, I'm still not certain, but I can feel that glow of true love radiating from you. And I'm just so glad to have been a part of your life."

"My love life, you mean." I smiled so he'd know I meant it lightly.

"I know it seems wrong to you that on the cusp of getting married I wanted this."

"Yeah, but who am I to judge you?"

"My good friend, that's who! I thought that Catholic boarding school training would have weighted you down with a load of moral guilt."

"Guess not. I absorbed the love and caring parts."

"How wonderful for you! You see, marriage secures Trowa's future; it's not a chastity belt. Should something happen to me, he inherits… he's set for life. I wanted that for him."

"And you love him?" I actually wasn't sure he did. He didn't sound like Heero; he didn't sound all exclusive about Trowa, which seemed a part of a permanent relationship. I got that much from hanging out with Heero.

"Oh, yes, of course!"

"And we're friends forever?"

"Always, Duo."

We parted that morning with our friendship intact. But things would never again be the same between us. Quatre was moving on and now it was time for me, too.

I never had been all that promiscuous with a string of lovers a mile long, but I'd tested the waters. I knew if I ever settled down in marriage, though, it would be my last, which meant my upbringing had had some affect on my heart's intentions.

Hilde clearly was waiting for that marriage proposal. Heero wanted something akin to it, if not that very thing, unspoken as yet. And me? What did I want?

There was no choice, no decision to make—I already had. What was left was telling Hilde I couldn't give her what she wanted. I wasn't sure I could be everything Heero wanted either, but he would complete me.

I had to wait another week until Hil's schedule and mine overlapped, giving me time to summon the nerve to break the bad news. I emptied my apartment of the few belongings I had, boxed and sent them to the L5 shuttle dock storage. All I had left was a bag and a couple changes of clothes. I was ready to move on with my life. Heero had accepted my calls, let me leave a recorded message, but hadn't spoken to me or returned a single call, which had me worried. _Did he still have missions with the Preventers? _ I didn't think so. Here I was burning my bridges without knowing if he would take me back—not for sure. I needed some assurance and I wasn't getting it.

I know it was arguable whether or not I deserved Heero's guarantee to take me back. But I wanted it.

Heero remained mute.

I plowed forward anyway.

I invited Hilde out to dinner. I thought a secluded table in a public place would offer me the privacy to say what had to be said and some protection from a temper tantrum.

It worked, but I felt cruel. She cried. She hadn't expected much better from me, which was rather insulting, but since it was true, how could I argue? I had nothing to say that could make her feel better, so when she asked to use my cell phone, I let her. It was the absolute least I could do.

She crushed it with a foot on her way out.

That actually inconvenienced me. I wanted to call Heero. I'd already arranged my return trip back to L5 for that night and I wanted to share my news with Heero, my decision to promise complete faithfulness to him. I headed for the shuttle launch station unsure but determined at least to see Heero.

I stowed my bags in a locker at the station. While fingering a ticket in my pocket, I found a pay vid and called 'Ro again on his cell, with no luck connecting with him, then put in a call to his office. This time I got past the recorded message and found myself speaking to a staff assistant.

"Mr. Maxwell? Yes, Agent Yuy is still offsite. He is due back Monday. If you wish to make an appointment-"

"No, I just wanna talk." I gave up when I heard the last boarding call for my ride to L5.

I usually had to battle back a rising tide of excitement on my return to L5. Just anticipating my homecoming and seeing Heero would distract me from the long boring trip. This time, though, was more like the first time.

Yeah, there I was again, embarking into the unknown to face another dramatic, life-changing episode in my existence.

(o)

I checked into the hotel I'd stayed on my first, earth-shattering (heh, heh, Zechs never thought that was turn-of-phrase was funny either) trip to the fifth colony. It gave me a place to leave my stuff, since I didn't presume to be welcome at home and to just walk back into the place I'd shared with Heero, unannounced.

I could have gone back. I had a key, but I wanted to play it safe. I wanted Heero to invite me back into his life and home, not just accept me. Or something. Maybe I was afraid to go there and see someone else's socks under the bed, or, more likely, folded away neatly in our dresser.

I was nervous. I checked for junk work and found it could wait another day or two. No one was rushing to finish removing the last of the scrap. I grabbed a bite to eat at a diner walking distance from the hotel, thought about picking up a new cell phone, but nothing close by was open, so I returned to my room, took a shower, and lay awake on the bed most of the night.

The next day I checked out, fed up with waiting around and riddled with anxiety. The exercise would do me good, I figured, so I hefted my gear and walked all the way to the Preventers building.

Although I'd been there before, I'd been with Heero and he had all the security passes it took to move around anywhere inside. I, however, had none. I did spot five cameras and probably twice that many eyes on me. Wondering…

And then…

I could not believe my luck. There in the lobby I caught sight of the tightly bound ponytail at the back of the guy's head.

"Wufei?" I said it just loud enough that if it were him he'd hear me.

For a second, the back stiffened and then he turned a stern face my way. It _was _Wufei and he was rushing toward me, arms outstretched in greeting.

"Maxwell! Duo! I, ah—hello!"

"Just 'Duo', Wu. Don't need the last name first treatment. I ain't Chinese." I don't think he got what I was saying; at least, he ignored my attempt at humor.

"I can't believe you're here of all places. I tried to call your number, but –"

"My cell had a pressing engagement with Hilde's foot and lost. Haven't replaced it." I tried to make it sound like no big deal that I wasn't making it easy for anyone to contact me. "Um, I'm actually here to find 'Ro."

"He didn't tell you about his court date?" His nearly black eyes bore into mine, while I let them. "He told me about your breakup."

_What the hell?_

He must have noticed my agitation, or the dent in the trashcan where I'd kicked it.

"None of the details, none at all-- just that it had happened."

He hefted one of my bags over a shoulder and maneuvered me out of the building and in the direction of the parking lot-- probably in order to minimize any further collateral damage from our talk.

"Tell me about the court thing."

He connected with my mood immediately and didn't try to drive the conversation back to prickly topics, like my break up with Heero.

"I understand it was a simple matter this time. He only had to put in an appearance and Preventers arranged for his lawyer. He called earlier to say the ordeal was over and he was catching the next shuttle out of Sanc."

"Oh." That was good. He was coming back here, for a while anyway.

"I'm on my way there now, to pick him up. Come with me. I know it would mean a lot to him to see you."

"Um."

_Would he want me there? He hadn't called. Oh, he couldn't have. Shit. _I knew I'd be sending him a message if I could have met him and didn't. "Not caring" wasn't how I felt and not what I wanted him to think I meant.

"He's been torn up over you."

"We'll see about that. Sure, let's go." _It was now or never, right?_

Heero hadn't told me a thing about the trial since the first month. He'd been living with me and that worry and not sharing. Had he been protecting me, or himself? A chill ran down my spine. Wufei was back on L5, which meant Heero and he were trading spaces once again. What if Heero was going to return to his position on Earth and he was just coming back to close the apartment?!

"So, he is coming back here, not staying in Sanc…permanently?" _Oh please, oh please be true!_

"I think that all depends on you. Again, he didn't go into details, but I got the feeling he left the ball in your court. Here's the car."

The car was a standard Preventers loaner, tan and bland, but loaded with features hidden away. I thought about Heero's Astra and the feel of all that power in my hands, a lot like loving him. Everything made me think of Heero.

Wufei waited in the driver's seat until I settled in. He was Heero's friend and he seemed to have accepted me as one without question, and considering how infrequently we'd been in contact since the war, I was touched.

I let out some of my pent up tension with a sigh. I needed someone to talk to and Wufei sensed it with his magical Chinese intuition, or something obviously I was oblivious to.

"Anything you have to say will stay right here. You have my promise."

_Wow. He and Quat in a room together could be amazing. Would one intuit and the other counter-intuit back? Who would win?_

"Duo?"

"He wanted a commitment and I wasn't ready."

"I see. That is a complication."

"It _was_ but I got it all worked out. I'm okay with that now."

"Are you? Well, I'm sure Heero will be pleased. Have you come back to tell him?"

"I'm back because I have this two week tradeoff between L4 and here, but the trash structure from the old colony… ah… your old colony, um, well, I'm nearly done with the recycling, and then I'm done here, and with no job I'm back to the L4 scrap yard fulltime, but I wanna stay here. We just never agreed on a completion plan, 'Ro an' me, not until he had that assurance outta me, which I got. I really got it. I just had this other life on L4 and I didn't see how it impacted everything else and that hurt him, but now I got no ties back there and I'm ready."

_Whew!_ That had felt good to get off my chest to someone else. "Geez, was that dumping overload, or what?"

Wufei was smiling, in a kind way. "I asked for it. No, that's fine. I'm glad to hear you have conquered your loyalty problems. I think you can make Heero happy. I wasn't sure if he should count on you for support."

"I'm dependable!"

"I didn't know you well enough to make any determination. All I knew were Heero's plans to leave Preventers, once he felt his life had stabilized. I wasn't sure if you could be that steadying factor."

"You are now?"

"Not really," he chuckled, too, "He's overly stable. You'd keep him just enough unbalanced to take a few of the risks he's going to have to make."

"Shit, I'm not that disruptive an influence."

"You underestimate yourself. You shook him to his core—in a good way, mind you. Heero, well, I feared for his sanity after the 'incident' with his former –"

"Lover? Slasher? Yeah I know all about that. 'Sokay to talk about it. So, he was pretty down?"

"Very. And knowing how the isolation on L5 can depress some people-- I didn't want to do the trade for that reason. I tried to convince the commander to let us both share the position on L5, and when that didn't work out I contacted Barton to come stay with him."

"You asked Trowa? Before me?"

"The two had been…close… during the war and I knew Barton was looking for a change."

"Oh, Trowa got his change, all right."

Wufei raised an eyebrow, questioning. "I was surprised when Winner called me with a proposal of his own immediately after I'd called Trowa."

"_He _wanted to stay with 'Ro?"

"No, he suggested you."

Ah, wheels within wheels… Quat was just a fucking little schemer.

I could feel his eyes searching mine for a reaction. "Quit looking into my head." I snorted a laugh out my nose, imagining Quat pulling strings, his machinations moving Trowa one way and me another. "Sure he did. He didn't want Trowa to go cozy up with 'Ro, not when he was about to pursue circus-boy himself. They're getting married, you know?"

"I only just received the informal announcement."

"Quat broke off with me for Trowa, just before."

"No, I didn't know that. That's interesting, in a heart-wrenching, soap-opera way." He ventured a little smile my way and I laughed.

"If I told you I'd hadda little fling with Tro' would you think you were next in line for a Maxwell seduction?"

He laughed aloud at that. "You didn't!"

"Nah, no Trowa conquest."

"Good, it wouldn't work anyway."

"You don't think I could get him in bed with me, um, if push came to shove?"

He laughed harder and pulled into a parking spot. "You have a way with words, Duo. No, I bet you could snare Barton, though you wouldn't, considering how you just told me you feel about Heero."

There was a question in his eye I needed to settle. "Absolutely. I was just talking."

"And you'd have no luck with me." The twinkle in his eyes had returned.

"Probably not. I'm too tall, now, huh?"

"Not tall enough. I have a beau, and very tall one, and if all works out he'll be joining me here on L5."

"Really? A _he_? Here? You're staying on L5? Awesome! I don't know what to be more shocked about, that you dig men or are moving back, or that you snagged a guy of your own. 'Course, your personality's been overhauled for the better—"

"Duo, shut up!"

"Well, not totally overhauled--" I muttered.

"Enough. Heero's shuttle just landed. We have a friend to collect."

Heero looked nice in his dark suit. He'd even had it tailored to fit properly. I could see his eyes sliding from Wufei, who he had expected, to me, who he hadn't. What mattered to me was the smile that lit his face when he noticed I was there, and that was just the beginning of what was heating up between us.

My apprehensions evaporated on the spot.

I stepped forward and attempted one of those public-acceptable, male-male, one-armed hugs. His body melted against mine as his steel-breaking arms tightened, banding us together.

"God…Duo…"

"Hello, Yuy." Wufei had decided to play it cool and stand far enough away not to be a part of our gay greeting.

"Chang." Heero's lips were on mine a heartbeat later, giving me a very thorough kiss.

I was not unknown around here. Some of the scrap people moved through the shuttle yards and docking area. I'd logged frequent-flyer miles with all the crews. My sexuality and my orientation had been paraded about on L5 by Heero's "my savior" kiss before, making me infamously straight on L4 and just as infamously gay on L5. I was a blend, truthfully.

Oh well. I could suffer the cat-calls and wolf whistles and fag taunts, if 'Ro could.

Speaking of cats-- "Duo, your bag is moving," Wufei pointed out.

Heero's eyes remained glued to mine, though. "How are you?"

"I'm here to stay, I hope." I leaned in and whispered in Heero's ear, "Hilde and me… no more. All over."

"I guessed," he whispered back, "or you wouldn't have been able to face me again."

"Yeah." He was right. I bend over to pick up my bag and it lurched and snarled. "Know anyone that wants a cat?"

"Is that's what in the bag?" Wufei asked. "Need I remind you the laws restricting importation of animals to—"

I brought the stray out from my bag and the most wondrous thing occurred: I think I witnessed Wufei falling in love. His eyes went super soft like fur.

"_That_ is a Chinese Mountain Cat! I'll take that. A rare animal like that requires special care."

Heero and I shared a special look. The cat was just a plain old tabby, but if Wu wanted to fuss it up a bit, fine with me. "Yeah, it just showed up on my couch and I, ah, moved out. Cleared the place completely. And… all."

Heero was smiling. "Where are all your belongings?"

"Shuttle storage. I wasn't sure—"

"We'll call for a delivery, later."

"So, I can come—?"

"Home. Wufei is taking us home."

Nothing could be better than hearing that.

Wufei took us home. He was subletting a place in our building, so home was home for all.

(o)

I'd been at this "L4 to L5 and back" crap commute for over 4 months before suffering my second nightmare. It ruined my first night's sleep back with Heero.

I tossed and turned in and out of my dream fugue state. There was fire and lots of explosions all around me, oh, and screams, lots of screams.

"Duo! Duo, wake up!"

My eyes flew open. "God, 'Ro!" What a relief to see his concerned face staring into mine! I leaned my head into his chest, holding him there long enough to convince myself he was in fact real. I listened to his heart thumping life-giving blood through his system.

"Duo, you okay?"

I inhaled a much needed breath and sat up a bit more so I could see his eyes. I couldn't make out the color in the darkness, but my mind could fill in that detail. The intensity was there. He was real, alive, and so was I.

With the fear of losing him still fresh in my mind from the nightmare, I wanted nothing more than to cement him to me, forever. We had a bond, had always had a bond, and now was the time to make it permanent. Like he wanted. Like I wanted, too. I looked him square in the eyes.

"I love you, Heero. More than anything in this world, I love you."

Release of the words brought a release of my tears. I had exposed myself fully. The words had been spoken and there was no turning back. "I love you" begged for a response. The few seconds immediately after that declaration were terribly lonely.

"I know Duo. I never doubted it for a second." His warm hand cupped my cheek and he held me in his eyes. "Plus, you've been saying it all night."

Sleep-talking was such a curse.

I saw a bright, proud smile flash across his face. "I love you, too."

I pulled the blanket over us and then I liquefied, pouring myself over and into the man I loved. Holding him like that I enjoyed a deeper intimacy than ever thought possible with another person. I had never felt so warm inside. I'd never, ever felt so loved, so cherished than there, safe and secure within his arms. My restless nights could come to an end.

I didn't want to lose consciousness. I didn't want to miss a second of that experience. But, the warmth of love and acceptance made for a powerful sedative that eventually swept me away into a peaceful sleep.

(o)

The next day we talked. I talked a lot. I bowed down and offered my heart on the altar of love, and he raised me onto a pedestal to worship. Not really, but the sex was out of this world. I closed his lips with my own again and we resumed our exchange of feelings.

And then we talked some more.

We celebrated our fifth month sharing a house on L5 with Italian takeout brought in, and over it we planned our future.

I had another job to do on L5 then I was done. Heero would schedule down at Preventers and let Wufei take over where he'd left off. Together we would launch his new space building engineering firm.

He had hundreds of innovative ideas to use. My expertise at tearing things apart actually had applications for putting things together.

"One of my modules can be deployed by pulling apart two hard-shell end domes until the interior box truss snaps into place." He showed me animated designed on his laptop.

"That is so cool, 'Ro." He was brilliant and mine and I loved him to the bursting point.

We poured over his notes, me pointing out things I understood. "All circulation, power, and data connections are located in the connector nodes?" I asked. "How cool is that for easy construction. No tools!"

He glowed. I got what he was doing and he was proud of his work and in love with me.

I pointed out a few improvements which would make all of Heero's components have the capacity for disassembly and reuse indefinitely, avoiding the material degradation issues that would the inevitable result of recycling. I knew recycling inside and out.

He was so excited about my measly input, you'da thought I designed it all. God, being in love with him was so easy, so natural, so wonderful. Why had I ever had a problem with this, I wondered? I'd been an idiot, maybe?

(o)

I left the house for work that day feeling a little giddy.

"I'll see you later," I told Heero, and then walked into the closet by mistake.

Over his laughter I heard him say, "I don't think so, you don't even know where to find the door."

I hoped the entire day wouldn't go that way. I didn't want to cut off the wrong piece of colony or hurt myself. I didn't. As it turned out, away from 'Ro's aura, I was sane and capable of operating large machinery.

I put in a solid day of work, cutting sorting, and loading the last of the old war-damaged L5 colony structure on a freighter. That was it. My job on L5 was over. I hadn't actually given notice on L4; I was on official paid leave, Quatre's choice.

I was looking forward to planning my role in Heero's company and helping him get it built. This was an exciting time. A fresh new venture.

Our plan for the evening was to meet with Wufei and go out to dinner to celebrate our future. He proposed meeting his boyfriend there and introducing us all. He'd been keeping the guy's identity a huge secret. Maybe Heero knew, but I didn't. I could wait and give Wu his chance at surprising me.

I walked at a pretty good clip to our door, excited, but hesitated outside in the hallway. The door was ajar. I heard voices within.

Heero's voice, low and tight, clearly sounding upset, grinding out something I couldn't completely make out. "—no… I won't."

And a woman's voice, Hilde's of all people, said, "I don't mean I'd want him for a roommate by choice, but there was less of an urge to maneuver him toward an open window than most guys I know."

"You don't love him. Not like I do. You did this just to get him—"

"Oh, Lord, I'm crazy for love, but not that crazy!"

They were talking about me. Me! I burst into the room. "What the hell?"

Something inside me twisted when I saw Hilde perched on an arm of our couch and Heero, ashen, and staring through me, but I pushed it away violently, preferring instead to see how things played out. What happens when matter and anti-matter come together in the same time and space? No one knows because the violence of the effects keeps wiping out the evidence. Let me tell you, I've seen it, lived through it, and at the moment of contact I wished the two of them did obliterate the known universe and take me with them rather than have to deal with the outcome.

"What are you doing here?" I asked Hilde. "How did you get my address? 'Ro? What's going on?"

"You shoulda told me about him," she said.

"Maybe…I disagree, but doesn't matter. It's too late now. We are over, like I told you."

Heero took her hand and led her to me.

"What are you doing, 'Ro?"

"I've reconsidered," Heero said to her. He said it softly, tears forming in his eyes. "And I can't do this."

"Do what?" I asked, my voice a bit unsteady.

Suddenly, Hilde's hand caught mine in a sort of death grip.

"Do what? Talk to me. God damn it! Will somebody tell me what's going on?" I let anger and frustration take over, because it was better than showing the fear I felt as my life spiral out of control, free falling with nothing to ground me. And then things just got a lot worse.

Heero looked at me and smoothed a few stray hairs out of my face. "You have a …a… baby on the way," he murmured.

I fought to keep my brain from shutting down immediately after that news, and hear what he was telling me.

"I don't think I could ever live with myself if I took you away from your child. It's not right that you live with me if it means your offspring will grow up without a father."

"What? I never wanted to be a father!" I protested, freeing my hand from Hil's with some effort. This couldn't be happening to me!

"I know, but you are. That changes things. Sometimes you just have to do what's right, even if it kills you inside," the love of my life replied, tears rolling freely down his face.

"I don't believe this! Not to be too insulting here, but, Hil, how can you be sure it's mine? And 'Ro, why do you believe her?"

"She has proof. Test results."

"Oh, yeah? Lemme see'im."

She spoke to me for the second time since I walked in. "Not with me. On L4. I knew when you broke up with me; it just took a few days to get the DNA results."

"And you didn't think to inform me then? You had to come here and fuck with my life here? Fuck up the best move I'd made in my life? Do you see how I might not believe you?"

"You hurt me, leaving. I didn't know what to say. I came here to tell you… I never suspected you and Heero were…lovers!"

"Yeah, well—" Fuck. "We gotta computer. Show me the proof first."

I was a bit startled when Heero suddenly turned towards me and shoved Hilde into my arms. I looked at my lover in surprise and caught his wrist. "What. . .?"

"Don't say anything more that might hurt what relationship you've got. Take care of her, Duo, and be a family."

"B-but--! 'Ro, it can't be true. It can't. Will ya just gimme a chance to prove it?--!" I sputtered, but he cut me off to speak directly to Hilde.

"And you… Duo and that baby are the best things that will ever happen to you. If you take them for granted or hurt either of them in any way, you'll have me to answer to," Heero said gruffly.

"'Ro?" I breathed hard, eyes wide and my knuckles white where I gripped him. This was not happening! "There's some screw up somewhere."

He smiled through his tears and put his hand on my head. "Goodbye, Duo. Do your best with your new family."

"No!" I choked, straining against Hilde's arms.

"Don't you ever let him go," Heero said, leveling his blue-eyed gaze at Hilde.

"Heero, I love you!" I cried, struggling.

Heero wiped his eyes with the back of his forearm. "I love you, too, Duo. I always will, no matter what. But now, you have to go."

He thrust us into the doorway.

"No! Don't do this! I want to stay here with you! Don't push me away!"

"I have to. Others need you more than I do," he said, and turned away to close the door.

"NO!" I screamed, starting to cry.

"Take care," he said over his shoulder, and closed the door. I could hear the latch slide shut from the inside.

"Heero!" I screeched, voice breaking. "Open up!" I pounded on the door until my fists bled.

"Duo, he's made up his mind. Let's go back to L4."

Oh, dear God? What had I done?

End, Chapter Six.

TBC


	7. Chapter 7

**Free Fall**

Summary: Duo searches for the key to happiness and love while free falling through life

Disclaimer: I don't own any part of Gundam Wing or its characters. I make no monetary profit off this story.

Warnings: AU, rated for language, yaoi pairings

**Chapter Seven**

* * *

The shuttle trip from L5 to L4 was doomed from the start. I was in a foul, foul mood. Hurt to the core. I felt betrayed, unfairly used, and I was completely aware that everyone else involved felt the same way too. My heart beat, but felt numb alternating with tortured, having been ripped from my chest and left behind with Heero, unwelcome in what had been my home. The mother of my child to be sat beside me a prisoner, too, of circumstances. She didn't look terribly happy either, though, she'd gotten what she'd wanted, hadn't she?

She got me.

Heero lost me.

No. He gave me, handed me over to her, of his own somewhat free will.

What I'd wanted had gotten ignored, pushed aside for the sake of this, this…unborn child, which, I might add, I had serious questions about being half mine. For all the radiation I'd been subjected to flying unshielded spacecraft throughout the war and from L2 colony defensive mishaps, I'd bet every cent I had against my little guys having much impact. I had decided first thing back on L4 was to get tested. I wanted proof that that child was mine.

I didn't trust the tests she said proved I'd be a father. I didn't trust her with that information. I wasn't on L4 half the time; what did I know about her love life when I wasn't there? I hadn't expected her to be faithful. I hadn't been!

Not that I wanted to leave Hilde raising a child on her own. If the actual father was unable to assist, I'd help out financially and physically—when I could and because I wanted to, not because I was shanghaied into something.

Hilde snagged an attendant's arm and pressed for answers. "What's taking so long to take off? We're way behind schedule."

"A few minutes," he corrected her, unnecessarily, I thought. "We were waiting on the L3 ambassador. She's just been seated and we will resume takeoff as soon as we get clearance. Would you like a pillow?"

"No, thanks." Hilde huffed a bit. "Wouldn't hold the shuttle for me thirty seconds, but for the ambassador--."

I recognized the sounds of securing latches and engines primes for takeoff. I ignored the steward's safety instruction recitation, knowing our real chances of survival under emergency conditions in space. As our ride peeled away from its colony restraints, I knew the only thing keeping us alive was the skill of the pilot—well, and me, if it came to that. I was always secure in the knowledge of my skills, abilities, and determination to stay alive.

I closed my eyes to concentrate on the shuttle, sensing what I could, alert for any miscues. I know all my other pilot friends did the same because it had become part of our nature. Keeping focus was difficult with my present circumstances crying out and pushing to the front of my limited attention span.

The even thrumming indicated that we'd pulled away and were on route in space.

I felt her eyes on me as I continued stewing away in my rank juicy thoughts. I had nothing to say to Hilde. No patronizing words of comfort for either of us.

"You're mad. I don't blame you. I didn't plan to destroy your happy camp with…him. But I don't like being insulted by you either, denying you're the father. It's not like my life's not messed up."

"Shut up, Hil. I ain't in the mood to discuss this in public. I ain't feeling particularly polite."

Her elbow nudged my side. "Don't hate me for this."

"You should have told me when I was on L4."

"You should have told me about Heero. I thought we were, like a couple."

"We were kids fooling around. No strings. I was under the impression I was sterile." My penetrating stare, copied from Heero, frightened her. I could see it in her eyes. "Still am."

"You said… you really love him?"

"Yeah. I just figured out my life and then… this," I snarled. "Forget it. Just leave me be." I closed my eyes and leaned back, putting darkness between us.

"Duo—I, uh—"

I opened my eyes just in time to note a fleeting dark shape outside the portal behind her head. "What the hell was that?"

"Please, don't yell--"

The explosion rocked the cabin and the lights dimmed. Air shut down. I felt as much as heard airlocks sealing around us. Systems going off-line. I leaped from my seat and made it halfway to the crew's compartment before the steward blocked my path.

"Return to your seat, sir. Everything's under control."

The funny things that go through my head at a time like that: I wondered if Quatre's space heart could sense the panic?

A whirring sound overhead, cables scraping, the interior lights brightened, the air stream hissing. Systems going on-line.

But not all systems were go. The thrusters chugged unevenly.

"I'll be the judge of that."

The well-intentioned flight attendant was no match for Shinigami on a mission. I overpowered him, shoving him into an empty seat with a tight clutch to his neck, and I was racing up to the flight deck seconds later. The two-level crew module had a forward flight deck with the pilot's seat on the right.

The co-pilot and, I counted, five other staff members on the lower level were too busy to look my way. The pilot flashed a glance at me over his shoulder as I watched, studying the meters and dials and gauging reactions—this all in less than a second.

"You don't belong in here," the pilot said.

"Duo Maxwell, Gundam pilot. I could take one of these apart and rebuild it so I just might know something you don't. Hey, I just can't trust my life to others."

The commanding pilot had the shop under control, mostly. "One man-- emergency return is off-line! I need you all at your stations. Whoever did this knew exactly where to hit us."

I'm quick. "You think this was intentionally aimed at the Ambassador to L3?

One curt nod was enough.

"Hit to the last payload door. Partition off complete. Mid-fuselage secured."

Whew! That meant that the airlocks to passenger section were holding and secure.

Okay, in addition to forming the payload bay, the midfuselage supported the payload bay doors, hinges and tiedown fittings, and various system components. These reports were all good as could be expected.

"Reviewing damage to aft fuselage."

The aft fuselage contained the maneuvering systems and main engines, among other things.

"aft… running diagnostics—"

That left the internal thrust structure supporting the three main engines, the turbopumps and propellant lines—

The attendant I'd way-laid shot into the compartment. "Sorry, sir! I tried to stop him!" His voice was raspy from my rough handling.

The commander waved him away. "He's another pilot, another pair of eyes. He can stay."

Did I gloat? Did I smirk? Not a bit. The steward had just been doing his job, just as I was doing mine, only I wasn't getting paid.

"Tail clear."

All right, engines online—I figured all that from the readings or we'd be floating, but it was good to know there was no damage to them directly.

"Lines compromised."

"Shit." We weren't goin' nowhere at anytime under our own power.

This crew was good. They had the ship secured, passengers safe, and the damage isolated in only minutes. I told the commander what I thought and he acknowledged the compliment by not ordering my ass off his deck.

We were out of range for the L5 colony tugs to simply haul us back to port. I heard the crew report to L5 dock services for emergency help and the commander place a surreptitious call to Preventers for security. When he finished, he turned to me.

"The ambassador to L3 has made some unpopular decisions of late. Her supporters love her, but there's a splinter group hounding her for more radical reforms. We were forewarned of delays at takeoff, but not something like this." The commander sighed and shook his head. "I would have recommended a charter flight for her."

"I'll bet heads are rolling at the Preventer's agency," offered the second-in-command.

I hoped Heero's wasn't one of them. I sure as hell didn't need to add guilt to the rest of my emotional brew. What if the mess up with me and Hilde had distracted him from his work and led to this? Then I remembered his department was incoming security, not out going, and that his worries were over microscopic invaders at that. Damned terrorists.

"Can I get a closer look at the damage?" What harm could I do?

The commander must have agreed and gave permission. "Dave? Get him a visual."

The crew member skillfully adjusted the shuttle's robotic arm, using it like a boom to reach around the ship and scan the damage to the fuel and steerage lines. The highly trained damage screeners, image analysts and system experts scrutinized pictures of the shuttle's organs, and outlined the repairs required.

Problem was, this was a passenger mission. They weren't equipped for major repairs, not this close to colonies with fully staffed docks.

I was. Not that I was in any special hurry to get back to L4, but just the thought of drifting about for hours in a cabin with Hilde for company sucked.

"I can fix that good enough to get us to L4. Only take me suit-up time and half an hour, max."

I can't say this was met with awe and applause. It wasn't until a four hour ETA was received from the towing service, and I agreed to sign away all my rights and the commander's responsibilities for my actions that I was given the go-ahead.

A crew member helped me into the suit and provided that sweet "buddy check" of the airlines and all.

"This is deluxe," I noted, seeing the top-of-the-line SAFER backpack.

This wasn't the norm for all flights, as far as I was aware.

"Yes, sir! New regulations require we use these. Never had to before this."

Things were changing.

The pack was called a Simplified Aid for EVA Rescue, a fancy acronym for saying that if for some reason my two tethers have come loose and the worst has happened and I've floated away from where I've been attached to the station, I can activate this SAFER, and it's got some nitrogen jets that to fly back to the station and grab hold and get re-tethered.

Very, very cool.

"I feel better and better about this," I told him.

"It's the deluxe pack, sir! Never been used."

Enough of that stuff. "Great. Better pray I get the job done without having to resort to testing that it works."

He tapped my helmet. "You'll be in contact with the shuttle at all times. Joel will be talking to you. He's on the RMS boom."

The boom was the robotic manipulator arm. "Oh, thanks. I feel a lot less alone with a voice in my head that's not mine."

"Better you than me," he added with a handshake at the airlock.

"Better me than _anyone_. I used to do this for a living, sorta. Kinda now, too." We exchanged salutes and the airlock closed.

Goodbye gravity.

Love that Free Fall feeling!

The tasks I did for Winner Industries were actually rather mundane. Luckily, the environment I worked in, the great void of space, provided plenty of excitement and challenge. This trip was proving to be emotionally disturbing and an ordeal, but aside from the inconvenience, this repair job didn't look to be challenging beyond belief.

Scoot over to damaged area, fix the problem and scoot back.

My current challenge was awaiting the Elevator ride.

"Hello, Duo. Joel here. I've got your ride on the way."

"Ah, thanks, Joel. Beats crawlin'. I'm happy to wait."

And I was. I don't actually _walk_ in space. There's nothing for feet to walk on, in the sense of gravity holding you down to walk. I did more of a space _crawl_. Like climbing something that's going straight up, I'd just grab a hold of one handrail then grab a hold of the next one. Then let go of the last one and use the free hand to lock on next to the first one, then grab the next rail. And that's literally how it's done, from one after the other handrail to wherever it is I'd be going.

This was a slow and tiring process and we were, obviously, pressed for time. There was one other way, called the Elevator. The moment the (RMS) remote manipulator system came into position, I attached my tether lines and climb aboard the end of the arm. Whether or not the original designers engineered the arms for this, I don't know, but the RMS could actually deliver me wherever I needed to go—fast.

The wire, spring-loaded spool was attached to me and the shuttle at all times, or in this case the robotic arm which was attached to the ship, because should I ever let go of the station, the tether would reel me back in, or I could grab it and pull myself back in. If I didn't have that tether and let go, even if I was only two inches away from the ship, I'd be doomed 'cause no one can swim without water, or air. That's why space is called a void. There's no material to create forces against. So it's critical from a safety perspective that I be tethered at all times, regardless of my fancy-ass new jet pack. I had two of them and snapped the second tether to the arm as quickly as possible.

"Secure?"

"Yep. Heave ho, Joel!"

Space. Dangerous and beautiful. Cold and dark—oh, thanks, the external spot lights brightened my destination. Cool. I loved working with this crew.

Serious multi-processing was one of the things I learned to do as a kid surviving on the streets and later learning to operate a Gundam suit. It made me good at what I did now- no- it made it possible to work in space.

In addition to processing the required details of the job and thinking two or three steps ahead, I also had to be constantly thinking about where my damn tether was, where my "buddy" was, where his tether was, and where the airlock to safety was, so that at any point in time I'd be prepared. If something should go wrong, like a leak in a suit, I'd know where my "buddy" was, how I'd get to him, and how I'd get us back to the airlock. That was how it was on the job. The point was to avoid thrills and the need for deft-defying acts of bravery.

Problem was, in this case I had no buddy helping me on the outside. Plenty of competent dudes at the controls listening and helping as they could, and Joel in my head, but I was on my own out there in the big void.

But suddenly I noticed I wasn't alone.

No. I had for company an information gathering satellite, a news bug.

The news bug sent out from the media, probably attached to our shuttle before takeoff, and now with a story of interest to occupy it's little nanobrain sensors, buzzed about in an annoying fashion. Super. I'd be on the late night broadcast.

I wanted sooo much to swat at it.

About that.

No swatting in free-float.

For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. In the vacuum of space that law of physics is THE LAW.

"Let me explain, while I work—yes, Joel, if you're listening, I talk to myself."

I received a crackle in reply.

Heh, heh, everyone oughta try this job once in their life. Inside the suit, I gotta constantly be flexing all of my muscles to keep control. A good example was now. Here I was spacecrawling the last foot or so over to the damaged cable region, where I needed to stop. If I put on the brakes with one hand, I'd just go pitching "up," feet flying over my head. No good. Instead, I had to constantly sense any rates changes of my body while simultaneously applying a force to null that rate. So when I'd go to stop, I'd be stopping with one hand while pushing up with the other, so I'd not pitch out of control.

A constant full body and mind workout. So, I didn't whack the news bug. I had my hands, literally, full and I didn't need to go flying about testing my tether strength.

"Joel?" He'd been exceptionally quiet. "Shuttle, come in?" The com line was down. Extinguished.

Except for the news bug, I was very, very alone.

I was nearly done, too, thankfully, so if I couldn't get a signal for an Elevator ride, I'd crawl back. I taped over the hose slits with duct tape, pretty much, with a special vacuum discharge and release system for removing strips with gloves on-- which was rather funny. Give me duct tape and I'll save the world!

"Well, Joel, if you're listening, I'm not hearing you so this is a one way communiqué. Ah, I see you have the cameras on what I've done, so you maybe can hear me?. Okay, damage was just what you thought. It's fixed to hold for a month of coasting between colonies, but I know you'll want to get it all checked out and repaired to code at the L4 dock. I'm just saying you can go all out to make your schedule. And I'm ready to go—whoa, what's this?"

Another ship from outta no where snuck up on us? They ID'd themselves as the FCA [Free the Colonies Alliance]. These were the dudes who'd attacked us earlier. I'd been so focused, I'd forgotten about them.

"We saw you on tv."

Aw, fuck! _They_ could communicate with me.

"You're Duo, that Gundam pilot for L2."

"Yeah, that was a war ago."

"You should be on our side."

"_I_'m on _my_ side. Move back."

"But you're protecting Kalaya Srisai! She wants L3 to give up its independence!"

They actually said a lot more than that, but I mentally edited the tripe down as they went along.

"Listen, I really don't give a shit right now. Deal with her when she lands on L3, or L4, I don't care-- just not here! She's only one of fifty people on board the ship. I wanna get…home and deal with my own life, but to do that I gotta get this baby in working order. So back off."

"But--!"

"Listen, asshole. I'll give you a bit of wisdom in exchange for your leaving, 'kay?" I didn't wait for an answer. I had completed the repairs to the shunt hose, and wanted to get back inside the relative protective covering of the shuttle. "Preventers are on the way, so I recommend high-tailing it outta this airspace ASAP."

I could hear high-speed chatter and then the first voice returned. "Thanks, man. Some of us feel we owe you. We want to do you a favor."

"Favor? Stay the hell away. There's too many free lines here to get tangled in. Just stay back."

In the meantime, the shuttle crew, who musta been monitoring our communications somehow, took action. The ship's manipulator arm swung around, heading out toward the invading ship, who not only wasn't backing away, but was instead lurching forward with what could only be assumed was the intention to bash the delicate repair job I'd been doing. I felt a pinch.

The fucking FCA ship had a robotic arm on me!

"ERK!"

My tether snapped, snagged by the shuttle's manipulator arm. Of course, this wasn't the end of the world because I had two lines, right?

Well, yes, had the second one not been yanked to its breaking point by the FCA arm. Now I was the meat in the Shuttle-Duo-FCA ship sandwich. If I freed myself, who knows what crazy mess the FCA arm would make of the fuel lines and my fabulous repair job?!

But there was more! I couldn't free myself without tearing my protective spacesuit! "Argh! You M..F…assholes--!"

We were slowly turning in space, distant stars flashing in and out of view. My mind was reeling with the lack of possible ways to extract myself and survive. I couldn't think of a single good plan. Not one. And the circling stars were pretty. A light in my helmet blinked. It might have been a warning, but it was so pretty. _Little lights go blinky-blinky…_

A jerk and tug on my suit crystallized my mind temporarily.

"Hey! This is no fun!" I shouted at both sides, whether they could hear me or not. "Jesus, you move and you might puncture my suit!"

All the while, news bug recorded the ridiculous event for prosperity and swept in for a close up. I had one option, one that I could think of. I did what I could to make my minutes of fame memorable and did a desperate thing.

"Heero!" I shouted. "I need you, Heero!"

That got translated and chewed and spit out onto the airwaves with me looking as if I was about to be torn in half to the tune "Holding Out For A Hero."

I could even hear the music emanating from the irritating news satellite: "…Isn't there a white knight upon a fiery steed...?"

"Dear God above… not this. I do not want to go out this way!" I was whimpering, yes, but in my defense, my brain had gone offline.

I always thought I'd go out quietly; certainly not headline news with a theme song!

**Gundam pilot war hero ripped apart by robotic arms!**

**Maxwell—untethered!**

**Duo Dies—the Musical!**

"…I need a hero

I'm holding out for a hero 'til the end of the night

He's gotta be strong

And he's gotta be fast

And he's gotta be fresh from the fight

I need a hero…!"

I would have laughed with the rest of the fucking universe had it not been so tragic, in reality. Instead, I joined in on the chorus, my lungs filling with the thin air of my suit. Too thin, as it turned out.

"Duo?"

Hark! A familiar voice?

"Yeeees?"

"Duo! Switch to your other air supply… NOW!"

"O…kay."

I could do that, as soon as I found the switch, and there was one more round of the chorus to sing.

**A/N: Holding Out For A Hero-- song Written by Jim Steinman and Dean Pitchford, originally recorded by Bonnie Tyler. (Thanks for the idea, Waterlily)  
**

End, Chapter Seven.

TBC


	8. Chapter 8

**Free Fall**

Summary: Duo searches for the key to happiness and love while free falling through life

Disclaimer: I don't own any part of Gundam Wing or its characters. I make no monetary profit off this story.

Warnings: AU, rated for language, yaoi pairings

**Chapter Eight**

* * *

I hadn't finished my solo take on the last verse when I came aware of a hand wound around my arm and a different, but even more familiar, voice ringing in my head.

"Nice warble, but you're flat. I know you can sing better than that."

I heard a snap and the fog over my helmet facemask cleared. I hadn't even noticed my facemask clouding over. Heero! He tapped on my helmet. I could see him smile, his lips move. I synchronized that with what I was hearing.

"Enjoy the fresh air while I acquaint you with the dangers of losing oxygen."

I nodded, but not too vigorously. He was busy untangling me from hoses and talking. He could have read me the Preventers field manual and I would have loved it for just the sound of his voice.

"I want you to listen and stay awake while I untangle you. Do not go unconscious on me, Maxwell!"

He had my full and complete attention. "'kay."

"If you get a small hole in your spacesuit, the oxygen flows out and the pressure drops. If the pressure drops too far, then you'll get the bends, and if it drops below about 2.5 psi, then you don't have enough oxygen to maintain useful consciousness."

"No…perf…" _What was that word?_ I couldn't concentrate at all. "...um... no...holes."

"You didn't perforate your suit, but you ignored the signal to switch to the other air pack, which is why you're border-line irrational."

"No signal." Unless that blinking light had been warning me of the reduced air supply? If so, then it had come too late. My judgment had already become impaired.

"We'll, discuss that later. Possibly this was a defective helmet or possibly you weren't completely familiar with this style of pack. I shall illuminate you while completing your extraction."

I wanted to ask about the terrorist ship. I fully intended to, but my mouth and brain weren't fully linked, so I listened instead.

"This pack was fitted with a device called the Secondary Oxygen Pack, which is fully loaded with enough oxygen that it should be able to support a small leak for—depends on how small it is—but for at least 30 minutes-- giving you sufficient air to make it back to the airlock and re-pressurizing. A big leak—like a big hole in the suit, say a half-inch hole or something like that, or if your glove blew off—would pretty much be a real bad day for you."

"Lucky… no hole."

"Yes, and lucky that the flight crew of the shuttle knew how to disable the other ship's controls."

I didn't understand what he meant.

"The Shuttle crew used another operational arm to cut through the foreign robotic arm holding you. Unfortunately the arm didn't release, but stuck in grip mode. I've taken care of that."

"Thanks."

"No problem. You'll notice I don't tackle free space without a partner?"

"Who?"

"Wufei. Remember speaking to him?"

_Possibly?_

"Well, you did. He's right over there. See him?"

I saw someone.

"He's communicating with the shuttle to handle… a sensitive matter. Preventers agents are here and have containment on the terrorist ship. You did a good repair job out here, Duo. It's going to be okay."

"Is it?" _How about us?_ Without Heero in it, the future looked bleak to me, not that I could imagine much at the time. My brain hadn't come full-on yet.

I felt him squeeze my arm and give me a shake, the tiniest of shakes, but still unmistakable.

"You'll have to explain to me why it is you're out here without a buddy at your back. Risking your life!"

"--Nothing to live for anyway—" Even I knew that sounded over the top, but for a minute in my fog-land it was as if he and I were back together. As the fresh oxygen clarified my neurons, reality began to close in around me. Heero was here acting in the capacity of his job. Not for me.

"Don't give me that crap," he snapped then looked sorry he had. "Sorry. I forgot you haven't been brought up to speed on the latest information pertinent to you, as I have."

"The ambassador's all right, isn't she?" It was a shot in the dark. I had no idea what Heero was getting at, so I drew from what experience of late I could.

It was his turn to be confused.

Good. The hard knot that was my guts and the rock in my throat all returned, reminding me that I wasn't his and that I had a child on the way to live for, which I hadn't at all come to terms with.

"I need to get us to safety. Hold on while I secure a tether to you."

And then we were literally bound together. His lifeline attached to me and his secondary reeled us over to an agency ship, much like the one Heero'd flown before and damaged in the collapsing substructure. There, I was discharged into a seat and ordered to "sit still and wait."

As if I could go anyplace.

"I'll be back," 'Ro promised. "Keep space-safe." He meant that I should stay in my suit. I could breath the ship's air, but I was to keep the tank supply at the ready.

Too jacked up to close my eyes and cat nap, I fiddled with my suit to get the pack off so I'd fit more comfortably in the seat. I moved to get a better view and could see the terrorist's ship dragging behind another Preventers ship, linked by a towline. I watched until both ships had passed from view, reduced to mere dots of light before blinking out entirely. So, what was holding things up now?

Ah, another ship. I made out the Preventers logo. Wow, we really rated to get this kind of attention!

Not that I was eager to get to L4, but lingering in space limbo under the circumstances hurt so bad; like being tormented with a salt drip to a gaping wound. I knew from personal experience. Seeing Heero again, so soon after being shut out of his life forever, was the worst torture ever.

I toyed with the desperate notion of ripping off my helmet and jumping ship into the void; an ugly act to ponder, I know, but then I was distracted by movement from the shuttle. Two figures emerged from the airlock wearing Preventers suit insignias. They used the Elevator to carry them to my ship. In the background I could make out the last-to-arrive security ship rising into my view from the far side of the shuttle. Both ships seemed to drift away, the one acting as escort to the shuttle, taking them both out of sight.

The two agents passed through my airlock and joined me. It was Wufei and Heero.

"You look better." Heero's eyes studied mine for alert signs, I think.

I batted my eyelashes and smiled goofily. "I'm well enough to feel like nanobots had a party in my head."

Wu bumped 'Ro hard enough to actually shove him aside. "Tell him, Heero."

_Oh, crapola. I was gonna be arrested for something. What was it? Oh, I told the bad guys the law was coming. But that was to get them to back off. Who'da thunk they'd attack rather than save their butts?_

"I will. You tell him what you told me first."

Wufei seemed to sense my limited patience with this line of chatter and just did as Heero asked without further argument.

"You executed an excellent repair to the shuttle. The commander reported the ship will be able to move under her own power all the way to L4. I understand that they can make up some time with a tighter flight plan and higher speed so that they'll only be a little over an hour behind schedule. The Commander extends his appreciation to you. The ambassador sends along her thanks as well."

"Cool. He was great and his crew-- chill professionals all the way. The ambassador can go to hell for all I care. So, what am I doing here? Am I under arrest or something?"

"Arrest? No! There's more to say. I--"

"No, you idiot!" (meaning me in the role of "idiot") Heero broke in. "How do you come up with those ideas?"

"Well, I'm here with two agents and not there on the shuttle to L4, so I reckon I'm being taken to jail or something. Not _too_ stupid, I am." The last part I said in a funny "Yoda" voice, so I probably wasn't one hundred percent on-line mentally yet.

"Tell him what's happened. Now!" Wufei ordered.

I looked at Heero, still all suited up, as we all were for safety sake. I felt like we were in a puppet show making wide crazy, swiping arm movements like someone was pulling strings to control us. It made me feel a bit silly, or possibly the lack of oxygen damaged my brain permanently, but I curbed my giddiness, and pointed at Heero. "Your turn."

"I will! I-I was just waiting to make sure he was thinking straight."

Wufei laughed at him. "Then he'll never find out."

"What's the big secret?" I was not in a fun and games kinda mood, despite how I was acting.

"After you left," Heero began.

"After you pushed me out. Let's get the facts straight."

"Start before that, Yuy. Don't you know how to relate information? Forget it. I'll start it off." Wufei was better at this story-telling anyway. "I was at the house; this is before you came in. If you recall, we had planned to all go out to dinner? I arrived early to avoid getting a new assignment at work. Heero and I were reviewing his open work orders on his computer-- the ones I'll be taking over when he leaves and I return to my position in just a very, very few days-- when that woman arrived."

Hilde.

"She—"

"I know what she told you," I cut in. "You don't need to go over all that. So, you were there all that time?"

Wufei shook his head. "Yes, in the kitchen. I heard her claim, then took advantage of an opportunity and began a little research of my own."

"Uh, huh."

"By the time I'd found what I'd been looking for, you had already gone and Heero was in no condition to listen to what I had to say, regardless of how significant my information was."

"I was—" Heero attempted to defend himself, but Wu was on a roll.

"Despondent. Yes of course. Beyond listening to reason, that was for sure."

"And the information was--?" I couldn't wait. _What hadn't I filed on time? Had my license run out?_

"I'll get to that part in just a moment. I'm trying to maintain the proper continuity. So, in the meantime, an urgent notice came down the agency grapevine warning that the L3 ambassador was a target--," Wufei went on.

"-- once again—" Heero added.

"-- and Une started scrambling for an escort ship and two security racers. We were commanded to report to the office for assignment. "

"We should have insisted on going to the shuttle launch site immediately; I never should have listened to Une," Heero grumbled.

"Yes, were should have gone after Duo immediately. Instead, we followed orders and drove to the agency, where we offered to help out with the intention of meeting the other agents at the shuttle launch, finding you, and setting everything straight."

"But your ship had already departed." Heero pounded the arm of the seat and broke it off.

"I won't report that if you control yourself from here on out," Wu informed his fellow agent tartly.

I caught the floating part and wedged it under my seat, out of the way. "Why? You guys hot on the trail for the ambassador or something?"

"No!" They both shouted at me, although 'Ro was the one tagging on the "you, idiot!" part.

"Uh, huh," was all I had to say.

"The ambassador has nothing to do with what we are trying to tell you."

"Good. She's not worth all the trouble, is my guess."

"Duo!" Wufei got my attention. "I spoke to Hilde on the shuttle and she admitted that you weren't the father of her unborn child. There! Finally, it's said."

My head started to spin. "Say…what?"

Wu felt more like talking than Heero, who I was rather mad at for abandoning me to the first lady claiming I'd fucked her up and who knew I was hurting and mad at him about it in spite of my being grateful and thrilled to have had him save me.

"She was desperate—"

"Apparent-lee!" I said, battering the word, pulling out the last part and giving the word some of my attitude. Heero winced and looked glum, so it worked.

"After you broke off with her and left her on L4, she discovered you'd emptied your apartment and weren't intending on ever coming back. Her world came crashing in on her."

"What's the big deal? Didn't she think I'd help raise my own child, even without being forced into it? I'm not that much of a bastard to leave a friend in the lurch like that, and Quat would find her a new job and get her help, too. Damn, I don't like being used and insulted and," I glared at Heero just so he'd know I was including him in all this, "pushed around like a badly behaved kid without a lick of sense."

"Kicked out like a dishonorable cur," Wu summed up.

"I get it!" Heero said with an accompanying moan. "It wasn't like that. I made a mistake, a huge one. I just reacted. I was on this high over us and then Hilde showed and nearly blew me away."

"He sounds just like you, Duo, you know?" Wu was making fun of Heero in a strange counterpoint to our serious conversation. Maybe it was his way of lightening up the atmosphere and keeping us from saying anything we'd regret later.

Heero tried out a weak smile. "I soak up your quirks. I can't help it, Duo; I love your funny habits."

I smiled a bit back at him. "I guess it was a bit of a shock to hear all that from her, out of the blue and all. The fact that it could be believable, well, that was my doing, my mistake. I never should have tried keeping both of you secret. I just didn't…think."

"I didn't believe her for a second." Wufei had to be extremely proud of this from the look of his stiff uplifted chin. "The moment she made that claim, I had my doubts. One check to the Preventers health records—"

"You read my file? That's illegal! You broke the law? I can't get over Wu-man here breaking the law!"

"Piffle! Heero has all kinds of clearance. I only had to use his ID—"

"How did you do that? I don't recall sharing that information with you." Heero seemed glad to have the heat put on someone else for a change.

"I used your laptop. It was in the kitchen where you had been working while we were waiting for Duo to come home. And since you were already logged into your virtual office, I just took advantage of your security gaffe and helped myself." His smug smile encompassed his face. "I'm getting that job back in two days anyway. Now, aren't you interested in what my research uncovered that closed the case on her claim?"

"Yeah."

"Not really," I said. "I can guess, figuring I gotta pretty fucked up sperm count. Professor G told me how my little buddies wouldn't probably make it through the war, seeing as how I'd get enough irradiation out in space to fry 'em all. Not that it made a difference to me. I hardly thought I'd make it out _at all_. Anyway, just talk to Quat about all his sisters and how L4 deals with the problems they've got."

"Most of us have that problem," Wu said, "Not Heero. Thank Doctor J for that."

Heero shuffled his feet and stared blankly out the small porthole window into the darkness. "I'm sorry, Duo. I was an idiot and treated you unfairly. I can only hope that someday you'll—"

"Shut it, 'Ro. We were both played. It's not something we can't get past."

His grateful smile told me he agreed. "I want to."

"Yeah. And on the plus side for you, you did answer the cap'n's call pretty quick and saved my life."

Before we became too sappy, though, Wu started back on telling their story. "Perhaps the shuttle sent out an emergency call for help, but we got there that fast because Une already had ships in pursuit and we were on one, this one, in fact, so you have her to thank."

"Oh. Ah, so my singing didn't bring you either?"

"I'm sure it made the news," Heero said with a wistful, funny little smile.

"It did." Wufei sat back. 'Nuff said, I guess. "While the other agents secured the attacking vessel, Heero and I rescued you. As soon as I could see you were in good hands, I confronted Hilde. She broke down and told the truth once she saw how devoted the two of you were. Apparently, she was about to tell you the truth on the shuttle, when the attack interrupted her. Believe that or not."

"I'll never send you away again, if you'll take me back?" Heero promised.

"I'll take you on your back or front or—"

"Stop!" Wufei cried out. "Save it for when you two are alone. Please. For me."

That deserved a show of sloppy kisses and some passionate loving, but we had to settle for warm looks and chaste touches through our big, fat gloves and helmets.

"Which reminds me," Wufei muttered. "You ought to do something about the media transmitter, Yuy."

Media--? The news bug! "Heero? That annoying parasite was yours?"

"It belonged to the Preventers!" He looked rather pale. "It was assigned to the ambassador. We re-programmed it to stick with the shuttle."

"_You_ did, not I!" And did Wu looked terribly pleased to have distanced himself from the bug.

"It was not helping me," I assured 'Ro.

"I was trying to cut into your communication stream and talk to you, but—"

"You shut down Joel! That's why I couldn't hear the shuttle crew!"

Heero appeared chagrined. His ego was going to need a little help after this day, I could tell.

Wu grinned in satisfaction. "Joel? First name basis with him?"

I punched Wu's arm. "Not the point."

"I thought you'd understand when I cued in the music."

Ah, geez. How could I be mad when 'Ro looked like a kicked puppy? At least now I'd have something to counter all his claims that I'd taken too many risks. When we got back together.

"Where we going?" I had to know.

"Home. We're going home, Duo."

End, Chapter Eight.

TBC


	9. Chapter 9

**Free Fall**

Disclaimer: I don't own any part of Gundam Wing or its characters. I make no monetary profit off this story.

Warnings: AU, rated for language, yaoi

A/N: I'm especially grateful to Waterlily for all her editing, re-editing, and editing some more and all her invaluable suggestions and to Snowdragon for her encouragement. Thanks for everyone reading and reviewing for all your support.

* * *

(o) Epilogue

Heero and I met Wufei's lover the moment we exited the shuttle. I was unprepared to see Zechs Merquise in the first place, but to see him nosing about Wufei like an alpha stallion tossing his mane of hair over a shoulder, pawing the ground, and herding his new filly was a brain-breaker.

Heero shook hands robotically. I think he was stunned back into the Stone Age, because all he could say came out as a grunt.

I quote: "Hn."

I jabbered nonsense that made everyone smile and set them at ease. Duo the facilitator scores again-- or at last.

Heero gave notice at Preventers two days later. Without ex's out to get us or work schedules prying us apart, with the pressure off, 'Ro and I, finally slipped into the comfort of a new relationship. We had time to be together, which probably led to us realizing we needed a larger place to live, heh, heh. We leased a bigger apartment in the same building and moved my L4 stuff out of the shuttle storage. He voted to keep it all and outfit the second bedroom for visiting guests in vintage L4-Duo décor. It wasn't so bad, actually.

Within a month, Wufei moved into Zechs' rather nice condo a block away. It was fun to have another couple to do stuff with, even if it was just hanging with takeout and a movie. It was the longest vacation Heero had ever taken, but he managed to keep his nose out of his startup business for nearly two months, and then it was time to travel again.

Wufei and Zechs joined us on the shuttle to L4 for Quat and Tro's wedding, where we all had a rollicking good time. Well, I had to get over seeing Hilde there, but once she introduced the man on her arm as her new beau, I knew she was well over me and I relaxed.

I let 'Ro and Wu know I'd be able to handle it, and went over to talk to her.

She met me half way, ruffling her feathers and looking eager to mend our friendship. "I never told him, Duo. Quatre doesn't know how we parted," she chirped. "I'm so sorry—"

I stopped her from saying more. "All over and done with. I'm happy to just move on."

"You look happy," she told me, then found something to pick at. "Have you put on weight?"

"Supremely happy, as 'Fei would say. How about you?" I let her decide if that was a nod to her own weight or a polite question about her health.

"Good. Things are good."

And that's how we left it. None of us told Quat about the false pregnancy thing; Quat had invited her out of friendship and innocent of guile and his wedding day wasn't the time to make waves.

Trowa took me by surprise when he hunted me down and pulled me aside. For a second there, I was sweatin'. I felt like his quarry and hoped it wasn't payback time for being Quat's fling-man.

"Having a good time?" he asked me, drink in hand and predatory gleam in his eye.

"Yeah, you guys throw a nice party. Congrats!"

"Thanks. Just so we understand one another, I wanted you to know Quatre won't be paying you any visits in the near future, without me."

"Oh?" His domineering body language and tone did not escape me; although, escaping his company was heavy on my mind. _Nice, tiger… pretty kitty…_ "Well, that's, ah, cool. 'Ro an' I got a bigger place with a spare room, should you decide to see the sites of the new L5," should_ you let kitty-Quat out of his cage._

"Might do that. Year or so. Quatre needs discipline."

_And you're just the man to provide it and keep him on a short leash. _"Um, sure, well, ah, keep in touch."

I put a few tables and chairs and Heero between us for the rest of the reception and all was well, in spite of the zoo-like atmosphere and circus theme.

After the wedding, it was time to get serious about starting the space building construction business. Our first contract? An orbiting hotel, super deluxe so the rich and famous people could buy the privacy they craved. Quatre and Trowa already had a suite reserved, which wasn't a surprise since they were one of our major stock holders, heh, heh.

I can't tell the future and promise a perfectly brilliant future, but I can say the present is the best with Heero right there with me. We never take huge chances without securing a firm tether, usually to a friend, often two. And we never go out without a buddy—Heero's always mine, and I'm always his.

Free Falling's pretty safe when you gotta lover like 'Ro.

End Free Falling


End file.
